Sunderland visit Shrewsbury Town in the Skybet League One Last time out Sunderland beat Ipswich and Shrewsbury lost at Cheltenham. The Black Cats got back to winning ways with a hard fought 2-0 victory against Ipswich Town, Luke O’Nien replaced injured Dennis Cirkin at left back and scored with a header in the 86th minute. Bailey Wright started ahead of Tom Flanagan at the back as Sunderland recorded their first clean sheet in 5 games. Steve Cotterill lost to his home town and former club Cheltenham 2-1 at the weekend. Defender Elliot Bennett was sent off for handling the ball on the goal line in the first half when Shrewsbury were leading 1-0. Shrewsbury are currently occupying one of the relegation spots and have 15 points from 17 games. Lee Johnson "We've had horrific luck with injuries, all three full-backs are out now until January. "Dennis Cirkin has got a hernia - possibly a double hernia - and needs a repair, so that is three to six weeks from when he has the op and that might not be for a week or ten days. "You're then taking Luke O'Nien out of the middle, and his shoulder is popping out every five minutes. He's just such a great lad. He's the busiest man in history, and I say that with all the love in the world. "He did really well and he is a top player. We need to get a second opinion about his shoulder because it popped out again today, and we may have to look into the open market for defenders." "Geads has had a stop-start season really with three different injuries. He is an absolute warrior who always wants to play, and sometimes he doesn't tell you if he's not 100 percent - that's the question, isn't it, is it braver to say or not to say? "In the game when he got sent off (at Rotherham) he was playing with a bit of a hamstring (injury), a grade 1B tear. He didn't know that, he thought that it was just a bit tight, but then clinically it was a torn hamstring. "We've had to build him up over this last couple of weeks from that game and get it right. "With Flanagan, that was just a team selection decision. He's another one that has been very good for us this season, then in the last three or four games has lost a bit of confidence on the ball, but we know that he can jump back in at any point." Steve Cotterill: "When you talk about the double-jeopardy bit - is the penalty not enough? I don't agree with a penalty and him getting sent off for it. Why does that have to be a red card?” "Not just for us today, but for anybody else that gets those decisions. A yellow card and a penalty is surely enough, because it ruined the game for us. It's a difficult one to take because with 11 men we were excellent, we were so dominant in the game.” "Without the goal I looked at the game and thought that there was only going to be one winner today when you look at the opening stages of the game. I thought that we were excellent. When it goes down to 10 men it makes it really difficult.” "I think that we've had bright starts (in games) but we've conceded a goal, whereas it was the other way around today, we started brightly and got the goal that we deserved. "We probably could've had another one as well before the sending off, and when you look back in hindsight we probably needed that other goal for 2-0, then with 10 men they have to score three to beat us. "There are lots of bigger clubs that have come here and not won with 11 men. It's a tough place to come and get a result, I know that, but I thought that our lads were first class and running on empty at the end there." Match Appointments: Referee: PETER WRIGHT Assistant Referees: Mark Cunliffe and Kenwyn Hughes Fourth Official: Anthony Moore Team Line ups Sunderland: Hoffmann, O’Nien, Wright, Flanagan, Winchester, Doyle, Neil, Embleton, Dajaku, Stewart, Broadhead. Subs: Patterson, Evans, Xhemajli, Pritchard, McGeady, Gooch, O’Brien Injured: Willis, Huggins, Hume, Cirkin, Burge. Shrewsbury Town:Marosi, Pennington, Ebanks-Landell, Nurse, Cosgrove, Vela, Davis, Leahy, Ogbeta, Bowman, Udoh. Subs: Bloxham, Pierre, Burgoyne, Pyke, Caton, Leshabela Injured: Whalley Suspended: Bennett Betting Odds: Sunderland 1/1 Shrewsbury 5/2 Draw 12/5 My two pence: At last, we won a game and even managed to keep a clean sheet. That should calm a few of our fans down – well for another game anyway. Steve Cotterill, a name that always sends a shudder down my spine, just at the thought of that Howard Wilkinson era. Thankfully Steve has now recovered from Covid-19. I think this will be another tough game and they will be right up for it after beating us earlier in the year. I’m going for a 2-1 away win. Live Stream https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/live-video Ha’way the Lads
Amazingly our record against these isn't brilliant. Time to put that right tomorrow but how many injuries are we piling up. Going for another nail biting hard earned win, any score will do, up to standard again RTB this board is lucky to have you around, cheers mate.
1-3 to the Lads. Don't think he will make changes from Saturday. Geads and Dajaku look like excellent options from the bench for the last 20/30 mins. Great thread as always.
I’d be tempted to put Gooch into left wing back, and three at the back. Windy right wing back . ONien & Neil in the middle. Embers, broadhead & Stewart up top. Heads & Dajaku impact subs. It will never happen mind.
RTB It seems 09s shoulder keeps popping out... my guess is he needs surgery. I noticed Doyle had to take throw-ins...should 09 be playing? Cirkin, Hume and Huggins all out.... Its either Neil or 09 at LB. Personally I prefer Neil in midfield. Can we play 3 CBs, imho only Gooch fits the criteria of a wing back, but he is not very good. Broadhead did not shine on Saturday, does he get another chance? Are Dajaku and Mcgeady subs not starters. Embleton no matter where he is supposed to play, ends up in the centre behind Stewart. So if he is selected it has to be that position if at all. Re Ipswich Thor Hoffman kept us in it 1st half, and we got lucky late on in the 2nd half. Decent headed goal by 09 and a soft penalty ( i reckon we had a couple of better shouts earlier with Stewart being brought down in Ipswich's area). Does Flanagan start or keep the same back 4, as we had a clean sheet? We are definitely in with a chance if we can get back to being able to pass to a team member. Our completed passes stats must have been appalling on Saturday. So confidence up... let's have a win. £10 stream for me.
HA'WAY THE LADS MACKEMS ATTACKEM Let's get stuck into them and get another win. Based on Oteley Road, Montgomery Waters Meadow has been the home of Shrewsbury Town Football Club since 2007. The purpose-built stadium has a capacity of 9,875 across four stands. Away supporters are based in the DM Recruitment North Stand. The stand can hold up to 1796 away fans and includes platform seating for disabled fans. Signage around the stadium complex will guide you to the stand which is situated behind one of the goals. situated next to the Meole Brace Retail Park where you can find a number of different food and drink options, including McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee and Starbucks. If you are looking for something a little stronger then The Wild Pig and Charles Darwin Pubs are the best options. Both are just a 10 to 15-minute walk away from the ground and serve a range of beers, ciders and spirits. They also offer hot meals and matchday parking. Towards the end of the 2016/17 season, we installed a new Fanzone which is situated next to the Community Football Hub outside the DM Recruitment stand. The Fanzone plays live music and have food and drink available. It is open to both home and away fans. Once in the ground we provide catering inside the concourse. This includes a selection of Wright’s Pies, Rollover hot dogs, a selection of crisps and chocolate, hot and cold drinks and alcoholic beverages. Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in western England. It sits inside a loop of the River Severn, and its Tudor centre is lined with half-timbered houses. The medieval, red-brick Shrewsbury Castle houses the Shropshire Regimental Museum, where military artefacts include uniforms and weaponry. St Chad's Church is defined by its unique circular nave, and St Mary’s Church has elaborate stained-glass windows. Famous people from Shrewsbury include Steven Fletcher, ex Sunderland player. Joe Hart, goalkeeper. Charles Darwin, Naturalist.
Agree with Gooch at wing back. He was poor on Saturday but looked more comfortable when he went to wing back. But I'd leave Onein at full back and start with Winchester in midfield. His move went under the radar a bit on Saturday but actually thought he helped change the game. Pressed in midfield and put us on the front foot. Whatever LJ does he needs to come up with a formula in midfield that is more dynamic and doesn't just sit back and let the opposition play. Hopefully Winchester might be the spark, worth a try anyway. As for the game. If we start like we finished on Saturday we may well have turned the corner. Players looked nervous on Saturday hopefully a win has boosted their confidence.
Below taken from Shrewsbury fans forum looking at the odds, town 5/2 them evens if you ask me they are more hit and miss than we are, they have won 5-0 and 4-0 and lost 4-0 and 5-1 our home form if we can remember that far back is not too bad at the moment time to get creative and surprise them, no idea how with our squad depth, stick 5 up front maybe but I fancy us to score a couple and they will get between 0 and 6 so you never know come on town looking forward to seeing their away following, anyone know if they have they sold out ? h'away the lads, pet
cheers again RTB... get our passing game going and we win, it is that simple, play like strangers and we are going to struggle again. hoping ipswich game was just a 'nervy - need - a - win - at - all - costs' performance and it settles the lads down, we all know they are capable of much better whether the 'main' first team or the lads waiting their turn. never thought we would be looking at square pegs again but again we know they are capable.
And from Martin the Moderator. Could be a boring 0-0 or 4-0 either way, just just never know. Depends which Sunderland turn up. As for their fans I hope then have a long, tiring and miserable journey here and back. Couldn't despise a set of fans much more than theirs. Aw bless, am not a huge fan of all 17 of theirs
Slightly upbeat after the Burtonesq performance on Saturday and the relief on LJ face as he circled with the players after the final whistle. Lovely to see them all pulling together. Ha’way the Lads 2-1 to the lads
Great thread, team and two penn'orth, what more can we ask for ? another 3 points maybe , and a bit more confidence all round, plus a move in the right direction OaU.
Cracking thread as always RTB. Thanks. Bit of a disjointed side and performance on Saturday but hopefully a confidence booster. A tricky game this one but hopefully we have enough to bring back 3 points which is all that matters. A big couple of away games these next 2 we could be right back in it or pressure on Johnson will be mounting again if things go badly. Keep the faith, tight scruffy away win for me.
We were crap on Saturday but a win and a cleansheet will give us confidence, when we pressed we played like we did earlier in the season. It didn’t last long but we showed glimpses of what we can play like and a couple more wins will get us back on track for automatic promotion. HTL KTF
Think it’ll be similar to Saturday and another disjointed display. But like Saturday we’ll score 2 late on to rake the 3 points. 0-2 Bart