Sunderland welcome Swansea City to the Stadium of Light in the Championship. Last time out Sunderland drew at Norwich and Swansea beat Plymouth. Sunderland secured a place in the play-offs in a dour goalless stalemate with Norwich City at Carrow Road. The Black Cats knew that a point away to the Canaries, themselves needing a win to keep alive faint hopes of reaching the top six, would be enough to ensure their season goes beyond 3 May. Swansea beat bottom club Plymouth Argyle 3-1 at the Swansea dot com stadium with goals from O’Brien, Darling and Key. The Swans moved up to 14th on 51 points. For caretaker head coach Sheehan, it is now 14 points from eight matches in what has been an impressive spell since the departure of Luke Williams in February. Regis le Bris: "It's a great achievement for the team, the staff and the club, so it's nice to be in the play-offs and have another purpose. "We earned this opportunity and now it's important to manage the squad properly, to give some minutes to the youngest players so they can learn from experiences, and for the others who have played many games so far, it will be an opportunity to find the right balance, to be in good shape and refresh when necessary. "In the first half we were too reserved, but after 30 minutes it was a little bit better, and during half time we spoke about the boldness we had to have, away against a strong team, and it was better in the second half." Press conference: Alan Sheehan: "I'm delighted. That's one of our best performances, we went after them really, really early. "I thought we just dictated the game from start to finish. It's as complete as you can potentially hope for. On another day we could have scored a few more goals if we'd been more clinical. "But in terms of attitude, application and quality tonight in the right areas, playing the right way, I'm really happy with that. "We wanted to put on a show. We understood how dangerous this game was - they have just beaten Norwich - but we wanted to match their intensity and bring it all together tonight. "Some of our play was top, top level." Form: Match Appointments Referee: FARAI HALLAM Assistant referees: Andrew Dallison & Lee Venamore Fourth official: Simon Mather Team Lineups: Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Hjelde, O’Nien, Mepham, Hume, Browne, Neil, Aleksic, Roberts, Mayenda. Watson. Subs: Moore, Johnson, Bainbridge, Seelt, Middlemas, Rigg, Jones, Le Fee, Isidor. Injured: Huggins, Alese, Danns, Ballard, Poveda, Samed, Abdullahi, Cirkin, Mundle. Swansea City: (4-2-3-1) Vigouroux, Kay Cabango, Tymon, Goncalo Franco, Allen, Ronald, O’Brien, Eom Ji-Sung, Vipotnik Subs: Bianchini, Christie, Cooper, Cullen, Delcroix, Fulton, McLaughlin, Naughton, Parker. Injured: Pedersen Betting Odds: Sunderland 4/6 Swansea 4/1 Draw 13/5 My two pence: A decent result in the end at Norwich given the changes, I’m hoping that we don’t play like that first half ever again – well maybe if we are 3-0 up in the play-off final (ha) Swansea are probably safe in mid-table obscurity with only pride to play for but they gave us a good game earlier in the season and as we all know by now, there aren’t any easy games in this league. I’m going for a 2-1 home win. Happy International Fans day Live Stream: https://www.safc.com/live Ha’way the Lads
I have an irrational dislike of Swansea City. It stems from watching them lose in the Division 3 play off final against Northampton Town in 1997. I was at Wembley supporting Northampton that day. Then there was a Swansea player whose name I forget, stringing us along a few years back when all he was doing was trying to get a better contract at Swansea. It gave me great satisfaction to see them relegated in 2018. As far as I’m concerned Swansea City can go and shove broken glass up their collective arses and even though our play off place is secure and we can afford to take our foot off the accelerator I hope we send them back to Wales with a proper thrashing. Oggy Oggy Oggy my hairy bot.
Thanks for doing these threads RTB. Part of my week/life now. Not said thanks in a while now. So, THANK YOU! Really appreciated!
@RTB Point of order Mr Chairman I thought Swansea moved to a new stadium around 20 years ago, therefore I'm a bit surprised to see mention of the Vetch Field in your write up. This is what happens when you wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning and can't get back to sleep Yeah I know bloody pedant etc. etc.
Personally on Saturday I'd like to see Hjelde start left back and a front three of Mayenda, Watson and Roberts. Watson should see more of the ball in the first half, hes our best fit option on the left for me, hes extremely creative when given the opportunity. Roberts a no-brainer. Im stuck as to who should play in the middle tbh. Feel like Neil should be dropped, Rigg should be rested, but we just haven't got the players. Is Jobe back? Id assume he is, but they might think otherwise. Only sure pick for me would be Le Fee off Mayenda.
If everyone is fresh enough I want to see Mayenda on the left wing with Wilson up top and Roberts on the right. Watson has looked terrible since this injury. ELF behind Wilson too. We don't have many games or build up momentum and continuity between the start 11. Saturday is a good time of start. Dead rubber of a game, at home, sun meant to be out too. Rigg can be rested. At a push Neil can but he won't be. Not a fan of Hjelde personally but we have no other choice at the moment.
I thought he was coming into the game a bit more the other night, hes definitely the type of player who is more effective for a team at home with the ball. He wasn't great, but part of that was how poor the midfield was in keeping hold of the ball. I still see a player there we can utilise despite him leaving. Id also be wary of playing both strikers from the start at home again, obviously youre saying Mayenda on left where he can be effective, but I worry about the percentage of an injury to one of them. Not necessarily brought on by fatigue but just simply being caught. I think Watson can be as effective on the left as Mayenda. Maybe he needs to get up to speed, start him from the off and bring him off if he isn't up to it. If we had everyone fit we'd have quite a luxury situation, even then would we be sound to drop Neil for Samed? On the basis of what we have seen I'd bet no. I agree about momentum, weve just gotten 7 good points playing about 90 mins of good football. Time to loosen up like we did in the last 20 vs Norwich.
We need to get the SoL be a fortress for the final 3 league games, bring the noise, bring back the Roker Roar to the SoL Shout this starts Saturday, 3-0 win
Could play Browne in his actual position. At home agaisnt Swansea I think he will be fine TBH. That would allow some flex for resting someone. Or again, give Aleksic a go in his actual position. No point playing these bit part players in random positions, just decreases the probability that they can play well.
Mate it's like a morgue in there, we all get nervous for some reason, then loads leave early, I can't understand leaving early, it's just as important as at any point during the match.
We're on the same page mate....couldn't agree more. If he plays ELF coming in from the left,I think I'm going to scream! With our injuries,the back line more or less picks itself. A front line of Roberts,Wilson and Elizer,with ELF playing them in just behind. Clean sheets are commendable,but we need some strong attacking momentum now with the focus on scoring goals. Someone mentioned the Roker Roar at home....goals will go a long way to getting it back.
You're right,Bob. The atmosphere at home is really disappointing. We need to ramp up our attacking play. We're in the play-offs,we have nothing to lose by going for it......a 5-4 win will do so much more for us than a 1-0.
About time we turned these over at home, hope to see jobe back and get some more minutes in Enzo from the bench, probably stick with hjelde at left back for balance, like the ideas of Roberts Wilson and mayenda as a front 3 too, handful for anyone all 3 of them, keep the momentum going, better bristols result and we can’t finish lower than 4th, 1-0 to the lads, Wilson to end his drought
Team selection will be all important these last 5 games, Swansea are now safe and can relax whereas we need to keep up our momentum so losing isn't really an option imo. Trust RLB to get it right even if it's grinding out another 3 points as keeping clean sheets seems to be his aim at present, trying to instill a winning mentality for the final run in. Yes a flamboyant finish to he season would be nice but I can't see Reggie straying far from his present course. Good thread RTB, HTL.
I know this is @RTB s thread but didn't know he was in charge of the team as well Sorry mate I'm in a cranky mood as I woke up at 3 o'clock and couldn't get back to sleep My young lady is not going to like me today, good job I'm retired
I would play ELF from the start and see how long he can perform before he gets tired. We can keep increasing the time he spends on the pitch for the next 5 games and we should then know if he can last a whole game or if not, at least how long he can be effective. Secondly, play Aleksic in hie correct position. Third, play Watson. Being cynical, it doesn’t matter if he gets injured and we may be protecting one of our own from injury. If possible, rest Jobe and Hume.
The atmosphere against Millwall was much better, I thought, despite their usual poor showing. Swansea will probably bring less so it's up to us to make some noise but the team can help by really going for it in the first twenty minutes. What seems to happen is that we allow the opposition to have the ball and play it around at the back. That's pretty harmless but they gradually get used to the stadium and start to become more and more confident. What's as bad is that our crowd has to watch the team watching the other team play. I appreciate we're employing tactics that can gain points but we also need to get at teams, create excitement and build the noise. We have exciting players so let's use them on Saturday and let our playoff opposition see what we're capable of.
