West Brom Vs Sunderland Official Sunderland Not606 Match Thread please log in to view this image The Hawthorns please log in to view this image Match Apointments Referee:Neil Swarbrick Assistants:A Garratt & M Perry Fourth Official:N Miller Last seasonâs relegation battlers West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland will clash against each other to kick-off their 2014/15 campaign at the Hawthrons on Saturday in a tea-time kick-off. West Brom who had survived last term by a mere 3 points finishing 17th in the league table, will want to start this season by gathering some positive momentum. The Baggies have signed the likes of Craig Gardener(Sunderland), Brown Ideye (Dynamo Kiev), Pocognoli (Hannover) and Andre Wisdom (Liverpool, on loan) including a new manager Alan Irvine to strengthen their first team. On the other hand, the Black Cats who were the surprise package in the second half of the season as the dramatically escaped they had relegation and finishing on 14th at the end of the season. They had a fine pre-season too, so a lot can be expected from The Rokerites this season. Similarly, Gus Poyet has succeeded to bring the likes of goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon (Manchester City), left back van Aanholt (Chelsea), Jordi Gomez (Wigan Athletic) and Jack Rodwell (Manchester City), defender Billy Jones(West Brom) for their new campaign. WBA Team News Plenty of Baggiesâ first team players Gareth McAuley (Calf injury), Joleon Lescott (Knee injury) and James Morrison (Knee injury) will probably remain sidelined while the new striker Brown Ideye could feature but is said to be lacking of match fitness. Sunderland Team News Defender Billy Jones remains a doubt as he is injured due to a hamstring problem while midfielder Emanuele Giaccherini remains out for a groin injury. Santiago Vergini is likely to take Jonesâ place whereas, it will be interesting to see whether Mannone or Pantilimon will be given the keeperâs gloves. Irvine âWeâre going to have to put people in our squad who havenât done as much of a pre-season as I would have liked,â said Irvine. âWe had a squad of 13 outfield players on Tuesday, which was a luxury. âI was at a meeting on Monday with a number of the Premier League managers and I spoke to (Tottenham boss) Mauricio Pochettino, who has had 32 players to train with all season. âThat is at a completely different end of the spectrum and causes other problems because once you go above 20 outfield players it starts to become a management issue. âBut when youâre way below that then that becomes an issue as well. âWeâve had eight players come in and it was 13 who went out and weâre now looking at working with a tighter group of players which has its benefits, without any doubt. âIf youâve got 32 players and a whole load sitting in the stand at the weekend then youâve got some problems. âThere are advantages to working with a smaller squad as long as theyâre fit. âThe problem weâve had is that, even though weâve had eight players in, with injuries to some existing players and some problems with work permits, weâve had eight players who havenât done a proper pre-season. âThere is no doubt thatâs a concern because youâve got to try to get them to catch up and we donât do five-and-a-half-week pre-seasons just for the sake of it. âIf it could be done in a week and a half youâd do it in a week and a half and everybody would have much longer holidays but thatâs something we have to deal with. âItâs happened and we have two choices. We can either get upset about it or just get on with it and we might as well get on with it. âYou can spend your whole time complaining about players you donât have and neglecting the ones you do have and itâs vitally important that we look after the ones we do have. âAnd the ones that have done pre-season have done extremely well.â Poyet "The good time we had stopped because the season finished. "But we talk a lot about momentum and there are a few players, the players who have been there at the end of the season that finished playing with the feeling of being unbeatable, practically. "I hope that we take it into this season because it is very, very important that we start well in the Premier League. "If you do not, what happened to us last season can happen and, like I said in the beginning, I do not want to suffer again." Possible line up please log in to view this image Posters Prediction This season we've cast aside the so called 'experts' to bring you predictions from our very own Not606 posters. Every match we'll have a different poster sticking their oar into my precious match threads. First up we'll start with a man who sprays like a cat round his bay window seat in The Victory Club. He is The Orchestrator of Opinion, The Death Lord of Debate, The Bum Steer Banisher. He's every visiting fans nightmare, it's Smug! Form (pre-season) West Brom : W W W W L L L Sunderland : W W W W L D W W Stats & Facts Head to Head please log in to view this image Last Corresponding Fixture please log in to view this image Betting please log in to view this image Links http://www.wba.co.uk/fans/visitors/ http://www.wba.co.uk/club/how_to_find_us/ http://www.wba.co.uk/club/maps/ Streaming http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=269472&part=sports
Yeeeees! A ****ing match thread! Delighted to see the impeccable standard remains amigo! We've lost 5 in a row away to these ****ers? 2-1 the lads. Haway!
I knew out record against them was ****e, but not this bad! C'mon lads, you beat them 1 league game ago!
Big thanks to Smug for his contribution. It's a feature I'm really looking forward to running. I'll even get opposing fans to chip in too, when we play a team who has fans that is.
I honestly don't give a crap how we play or what happens. I'd take a dodgy bounce off the arse own goal but I just want a win. A win would just set the right tone so early and heap pressure onto their manager sadly to say so early.
I shall be! First time at WBA like so hopefully a different scoreline to the usual Must admit my away record isnt fantastic like, around 3 wins out of 7 games
Good job Bri. Nice to have these threads back into the weekly agenda. 3-1 to the lads. Fletch, Ridgewell OG and AJ....
We've looked good defensively in pre season so if we can hold them out in the early stages I think we can nick it. A win would be massive with Man Utd up next
LEE CATTERMOLE admits Sunderland are somewhat stepping into the unknown against new-look West Brom tomorrow. Sunderland’s Stadium of Light victory over the Baggies last May guaranteed Premier League survival for the Black Cats and capped a remarkable escape from the jaws of relegation for Gus Poyet’s side. But Sunderland, who have lost their last five visits to the Hawthorns, will face a very different West Brom outfit in this weekend’s top flight curtain raiser. Ex-Sheffield Wednesday boss Alan Irvine will take charge for the first time after the brief tenure of Spaniard Pepe Mel, while the Baggies have already brought eight players to the club this summer - including ex-Sunderland midfielder Craig Gardner. Cattermole told the Echo: “We don’t really know what to expect. “The manager has had people there watching them in their pre-season games and we’ve had a look at them this week. “But they’ll have a new buzz with a new manager. “They’re a quality side and we’ve always found it difficult there. It will be nice to see Gards and there’s Sessy (Stephane Sessegnon) there as well. “But it couldn’t have gone any better for us during pre-season, so we’ll go there and look to get off to a good start. “We can’t expect too much, but at the same time, we’ve got to be confident going into the game.”
Predicted lineups? Mine would be please log in to view this image Personally would prefer Wickham but think Fletch will get the nod Use this if you's fancy being classy! http://footballformation.co.uk
Well this is what the West Brom fans think about their chances: http://westbrom.com/forum/index.php?topic=14229.0 Not a happy lot are they?
----------- Mannone ---------------- Vergini - JOS - Brown - Van Aanholt ----------- Cattermole -------------- ------ Rodwell ------ Gomez ------- -- Johnson --------------- Wickham ------------- Fletcher -------------- Subs Pantimilion Roberge Bridcutt Larsson Buckley Altidore Mandron ------------------ Not sure if I've missed anybody off, but actually looking at that squad has took me by surprise and how weak it still looks. That bench is terrible!
I think we have a massive chance of turning them over. They struggled last year and havent improved the squad much. They have an unproven manager which could be a factor. Hopefully we can see some of the form that kept us up last season and we come away with a good result to get us rolling
