Match Day Thread Sunderland v Mansfield Town - Saturday 7th November - KO 15:00

Sunderland host Mansfield Town at the Stadium of Light in the Emirates FA Cup

Last time out Sunderland beat Ipswich and Mansfield drew with Bolton.
With ten matches played, 21 points collected and a game in hand on many of those teams around them, Sunderland have reached Emirates FA Cup week in strong condition. Phil Parkinson wants his players to maintain those levels, after all they have only lost one game so far in Sky Bet League One – fewer than any other side in the division.
The Black Cats have two cup games before facing MK Dons in the League and will be looking to rest some of the first team squad and give an opportunity to some of the youngsters in the squad.
Lynden Gooch has a groin injury and Luke O’Nien has a knee ligament concern after the midweek game against Ipswich and could be rested. Sanderson & McFadzean could be in the starting 11.
Mansfield, who are currently languishing in 22nd position in League Two, dismissed their former boss, Graham Coughlan, at the end of last month and are currently managerless as they prepare for their trip to the Stadium of Light. However, the Stags hierarchy have held discussions with Nigel Clough, son of former Sunderland striker and legendary Nottingham Forest boss Brian, and are set to confirm his announcement ahead of Saturday’s game. Given that he has not had any involvement with the Mansfield players this week, it is extremely unlikely that Clough will take charge of affairs on Wearside.
Phil Parkinson:
“It’s a terrific win for us, the last home game we came away with nothing, this is a big win for us, Technically they were very good in their midfield three, probably the best in the division. We looked a bit unsure, are we pressing high or are we not? We got caught in that a bit in the latter stages of the first half.”
“We changed the shape a bit in the second half, giving us an extra man to build attacks. Even in the first half we had some decent chances, but Scowen had a bit of concussion, got a whack. We had to bring him off.”
“We have to find a way to win, and against our rivals, second in the table, to come through we have to be really pleased. You have to come out with the points and discuss what we can do better later. The character, the resilience, sticking to the job, the organisation was great.”
“Sometimes you can’t play as well as you would like and Ipswich made it difficult for us, but in the second half we were a lot better by readjusting the midfield slightly and we got what we wanted.”
“It gives us the opportunity, in the next two games certainly the Fleetwood one in particular a few of the youngsters that have been doing so well in the U23s. We’ve been really pleased with that and we’ve got plenty of other players to chose from."
“Hopefully we will get through in the FA Cup at the weekend.”
Richard Cooper (caretaker):
“I think we deserved the three points, we really got about them in the second-half and created chances.”
“We asked the players to be brave on the ball and they did that. There was just a moment where a gap became too big and unfortunately we’ve been punished for it.
“I saw it as my responsibility to step up when the chairman [John Radford] and David [Sharpe] asked me to [take caretaker charge].”
“I’m proud of the work we’ve tried to do, but deep down, I wanted to win a game of football.
“Hopefully [I leave] a group that believes in itself and has belief in everything they do. Those moments [late goal], they have to learn from.”
“If that gets improved, we hopefully go and get out first win for the football club. And there is no one that wants to see that more than me.”

Match Appointments:
Referee: Anthony Backhouse
Assistant Referees: Geoffrey Liddle and Matthew Parry
Fourth Official: Matthew Dicicco

Team Line ups
Sunderland: Matthews, McFazdean, Flanagan, Sanderson, McLaughlin, Diamond, Power, Neil, O'Brien, Grigg, Embleton.

Subs: Patterson, Younger, Taylor, Dobson, Maguire, Graham, Curry
Injured: McGeady, Feeney, Xhemajli, Willis, Kimpioka, Gooch.
Doubtful: O’Nien, Scowen

Mansfield Town: Stech, Gordon, Rawson, Perch, Benning, Maris, Lapslie, Charsley, McLaughlin, Bowery, Maynard
Subs: Stone, O’Keefe, Menayese, Cook, O’Driscoll, Reid, Sinclair
Injured: Clarke, Sweeney

Betting Odds:
Home 22/21 Away 12/5 Draw 23/10

My two pence:
After a hard fought win against the Tractor Boys surely it is time to rest a few first teamers and let the rest show what they can do.
I’m going for a comfortable 2-0 home win.

Live stream £10
https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video

Ha’way the Lads

 

I wonder if Clough will be there, I expect so.

 

Unlikely to be in charge - but he should be there.

 

The news certainly has the Mansfield lads buzzing, good luck to them

 

Can see this being a drab game with us scraping a 1-0 win. Danny Graham to score the winner.

Surely can’t start Bailey Wright can he? That would be suicidal imo.

 

I hope we give some of the fringe players a bash so they can try and impress.

 

Me too

 

Going for a 4-1 (Grigg x2, Graham x2). He surely has to start Grigg tomorrow.

 

No chance he is starting Grigg, his long ball game won’t work with him up top.

 

Kudos RTG

If Jurassic does not use this game to give some of the young'uns game time, he is even more useless than I already think he is.

 

If he picks the team you have down i will be extremely happy .I think that would be our strongest team and 4 or 5 matches together would make them a force to be reckoned with, can't wait for Saturday with that team on my mind, will be highly disappointed if the selections you have down are omitted. great post as usual mate

 

That's a bit of a myth tbh, as the stats and graphs show.

Most of our attacks come on the flanks.

Burge does have quite a kick on him though

 

HA'WAY THE LADS

MACKEMS ATTACKEM

I don't normally predict anymore due to superstition (daft aye)
But since this is a cup game and am desperate for us to concentrate on/climb out of this god forsaken fookin league am garn fer 3 give us a game 0 to the lads.

Cccooooomon.

 

What does that mean?

 

I assume it means give us 3 batter the f uck out of them and don’t concede any.

 

Is there another team in this league that gets as many injuries as us btw? What does Parkinson have them doing in training exactly? Never known anything like it.

 

So footballers getting injured playing football is now Parkys fault.
They weren't injured during training so why don't you give it a rest ffs.

 

Parky's Presser:
With Hume out, new signing McFadzean will be involved in some capacity, while Embleton is set to be in the matchday 18 for the first time since picking up a thigh injury in pre-season although he is likely to be on the bench and may have to wait until Tuesday's EFL Trophy game at Fleetwood for a chance to start.
"We have got a few injury problems going into the game anyway, so there are going to be some changes," said Parkinson.
"Josh Scowen had concussion, Goochy came off with a tight groin so he will miss the weekend, Denver has had an injection in his knee which he has had an ongoing problem with, and Luke O’Nien opened up his medial ligament and probably did well to finish the game.
"They are not serious issues.
"Denver has had a problem with his knee for a few weeks. He missed the Swindon game, but has then done well to carry on with it.
"We had it scanned this week and it was fine, but he’s going to have an injection over the weekend and it’ll need a bit of time to settle down so we’ll just need to nurse him through.
"Luke is a little bit more serious. He opened up his medial ligament in the first half of the game and he did well to come through it, but sometimes the adrenaline can get you through the match and it’s not until the next morning that you see feel the problem.
"It’s not too bad – it’s certainly not a long-term injury.
"It’s not a major problem for Luke but it will definitely keep him out tomorrow and Tuesday, but hopefully we will see it improve over the weekend.
"Towards the end of the Ipswich game, Goochy struck the ball and just felt his groin tighten up and while it doesn’t seem serious, we won’t play him in the next two games.
"Josh was concussed on Tuesday and we have to follow a protocol which means he won’t come back into the building until Monday, and then we’ll assess him again.
"Elliot will be in the squad tomorrow and, assuming everything goes OK, he will start on Tuesday.
"We’re just easing him into it gradually.
"He has had 45 minutes and then a 60, he’s trained well this week and he will be in the squad tomorrow and again on Tuesday.
"Callum is also in the squad. It’s early for him but he had 45 minutes [for the U23s] at Aston Villa on Friday.
"We’re conscious of the fact that he has only had a couple of weeks training, but he came to us in good shape – [physical performance coach] Nick Allamby was very pleased with his physical condition when he arrived."
Parkinson will have defenders Tom Flanagan and Conor McLaughlin available tomorrow before they go away with Northern Ireland, meaning they will miss the Fleetwood game and next weekend's home league match against MK Dons.
Parkinson said: "Qualifiers are one thing but I think we could do without the friendlies – I think most managers are saying the same thing.
"But the situation is that Tom and Conor are available tomorrow and then they will fly off on Sunday."

Parkinson could bring in players such as Will Grigg, Aiden O'Brien, Remi Matthews, Dion Sanderson, George Dobson, Danny Graham, Jack Diamond, and Dan Neil, to give some of his regular starters a breather.
And he is preparing to name a more inexperienced side against Fleetwood, with progression from the group stage of the competition already assured.