Match Day Thread Sunderland AFC v Millwall FC – Saturday 20th April 2024 - KO 15:00

Sunderland welcome Millwall to the Stadium of Light in the Championship.
Last time out Sunderland beat West Brom and Millwall beat Cardiff.
The Black Cats maintained their position in 13th place with 56 points after a hard fought 3 points at WBA. Mike Dodds kept the same line up that played at Leeds. Dennis Cirkin is back in training but unlikely to feature. Tommy Watson could be given a place on the bench. Evans, Embleton, Rusyn, Seelt and Huggins are unavailable.
Millwall beat Cardiff 3-1 with goals from Obafemi, Cooper and Watmore. George Honeyman is desperate to face his former club but Millwall boss Neil Harris admits the midfielder is touch and go for the game as he recovers from a shoulder injury. Former Black Cat Duncan Watmore is expected to start.
Mike Dodds:
"The sending off is obviously a huge turning point in the game.
"Then obviously scoring so quickly after the sending off, I just felt if the group were really professional in terms of what we asked of them, if they are really diligent in terms of the moments, it was going to be a comfortable afternoon.
"I didn't feel like we needed to change a huge amount. They had one or two moments without actually getting to the goal.
"But we also have to be respectful. They are fifth in the league, they have got some real quality footballers. They are always going to have moments in the game."
Neil Harris:
"Tuesday night against Leicester City was mega, it was a mega performance, today was slightly different.
"In some ways today was more important. It was a powerful message from the players.
"Every man and his dog wanted to tell me that this lot didn't know how to play at The Den.
"It was a big thing for me, I keep saying, galvanising the football club, bring the terrace and the pitch together, and yes I've played my part… but it's down to the players when they go on the pitch so they take the credit, they take the praise."
Form:

Match Appointments:
Referee: ANTHONY BACKHOUSE
Assistant Referees: Robert Hyde & Carl Jackson
Fourth Official: Martin Woods

Team Lineups:
Sunderland AFC: (3-4-3) Patterson, Ballard, O’Nien, Hume, Pembele, Neil, Ekwah, Styles, Rigg, Clarke, Jobe.

Subs: Bishop, Ba, Hjelde, Alese, Hemir, Aouchiche, Dack, Roberts, Watson.
Injured: Huggins, Cirkin, Embleton, Seelt, Rusyn, Evans, Matete.

Millwall (4-2-3-1) Sarkic, Leonard, Tanganga, Cooper, McNamara, Esse, Mitchell, Saville, Longman, Fleming, Obafemi.
Subs: Hutchinson, Nisbet, Bradshaw, Mayor, Bryan, Norton-Cuffy, Watmore, De Norre, Bialkowski.
Injured: Ramsey, Honeyman.

Betting Odds:
Sunderland 6/5 Millwall 23/10 Draw 23/10

Prutton Predicts: meh

My two pence:
Another solid defensive display and the sending off saw us grind out a 0-1 win at WBA. I’m hoping that we attack a bit more than we have done in the last few games and we don’t let Watmore anywhere near our goal.
I’m going for a 2-0 home win

Live Stream:
Available to overseas fans
https://safc.com/news/team-news/live-video

Ha’way the Lads

 

Presser:

 

Millwall have done well since Harris went back in there and they’ve just about secured safety.

I fancy a high scoring draw in this one. 2-2 or 3-3.

 

Fancy us to beat them. I'll go 2-1 to the lads.

Think it will be a better attacking performance from us on Sat. HTL

 

There's a rumour that Dan Neil is injured - hope not

 

Going 0-0 again. Against WBA we were solid defensively throughout both 11v11 and 10v11 but still throughout the game we weren't great going forward despite winning, and Millwall aren't going to be open defensively and would probably take a point now.

 

Millwall would be delighted with a point!

 

I think we are slowly turning a corner and confidence is seeping back in, but Millwall are a tough physical opponent so we need to be aware of that. I still think that we have enough to win this game and I hope that Dodds does not focus too heavily on defence (I know that it has looked decent lately) and allows us to counter quickly and with numbers as this will build even more confidence, so for me a tight 2-1 and another victory please.

 

Our home form has been dreadful recently. Time to turn that around!

 

1-0.

I think we might revert a back 4 seeing as we're at home.

 

3-3

We go 1 up, they go 2-1, we get it to 3-2 and they get a last min pen

 

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5 left footers there. That’s quite rare.

 

I think we've specifically recruited for lefties but we're probably at the point we don't need anymore.

 

Another clean sheet, I hope!!

2-0 HAWAY.

Bart

 

Fancy it to be low scoring another 0-0 or 1-0 either way

 

I fancy a Roberts goal or assist, he's due one for sure.

 

Just can't see it mate, he's one I'd be looking to shift in the summer, personally. Doubtful given he's just signed a new contract though, don't think there will be much interest in him

 

Looking at the current state of the squad, I’d be gutted to lose him currently. He does need to start adding goals and assists but he’s still a big player for us imo.

 

2 teams with nowt to play for except pride.
Neil will be a big miss, low scoring draw but would be happy to pinch the points to keep our momentum going HTL.