Match Day Thread Cardiff City FC v Sunderland AFC – Friday 29th March 2024 - KO 15:00

Sunderland Travel to South Wales to face Cardiff in the Championship.
Last time out Sunderland drew with QPR and Cardiff lost at Swansea.
The Black Cats remain in 12th place are 5 points adrift of 11th placed Cardiff.
Mike Dodds will welcome Luke O’Nien back into the defence, Corry Evans, Aji Alese and Bradley Dack are all back training with the first team and will be three huge positives going into the Easter Weekend.
However, Clarke, Cirkin, Huggins, Roberts, Seelt, Embleton & Rusyn are expected to remain on the injured list.
Cardiff City fell to a 2-0 defeat after local rivals Swansea claimed the bragging rights in South Wales.
Erol Bulut’s men are still dreaming of the chance to mount a late play-off charge. Knowing that they face a real must-win showdown here, the Bluebirds have collected 12 points from their previous five second-tier appearances and have won all of their previous three Championship contests at the Cardiff City Stadium by an aggregate score of 5-2.
Mike Dodds:
"People are going to say it's a point and it stops the chain of events we've had for the last six games, but the performance I was really disappointed with.
"Both first half and second half I felt we huffed and puffed but had no real quality in the game.
"I've got to keep working with them, they're a group that need help. A large part of that responsibility is myself.
"I think you will naturally get some help when you get bodies back, but I thought that was a real naive performance."
Erol Bulut:
"I think most disappointing for me and my players was the first 30 minutes. We knew Swansea would apply pressure but we didn't manage it well with the press.
"I think the first goal was a foul on Ng in my opinion. The referee had a different opinion. When he gave the penalty, for Ng pulling, it was the same situation.
"The first half was disappointing, not what we want, but the second half was much better.
"We will not put our heads down. We still have eight games to play. We have the international break and we will come back stronger."

Match Appointments:
Referee: JEREMY SIMPSON
Assistant Referees: Robert Hyde & Adam Crysell
Fourth Official: Scott Tallis

Team Lineups:
Sunderland AFC: (4-2-3-1) Patterson, Hjelde, Ballard, O’Nien, Hume, Evans, Neil, Rigg, Mundle, Aouchiche, Jobe.

Subs: Bishop, Pembele, Ekwah, Alese, Hemir, Ba, Dack, Styles, Burstow.
Injured: Huggins, Cirkin, Embleton, Seelt, Roberts, Clarke, Rusyn.

Cardiff (4-2-3-1) Horvath, Goutas, Wintle (C), Phillips, Bowler, Turnbull, Grant, Meite, Siopsis, Wilson-Esbrand. Ng.
Subs: Turner, Romeo, Tanner, Ralls, Colwill, O’Dowda, Remsey, Collins, Diedhiou.
Injured: McGuinness, Alnwick, Etete.

Betting Odds:
Sunderland 21/10 Cardiff 7/5 Draw 21/10

Prutton Predicts: meh

My two pence:
Cardiff are no mugs despite the recent loss to Swansea, hopefully we have a few of the injured players back for this game. Hopefully we get Hume and Ballard back from International duty ready to play and Corry Evans is back
I’m going for a 1-1 draw.

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

Press conference:

Ha’way the Lads

 

Hurrah! Thanks RTB

Shouldn't it be available to UK fans as it's not a Saturday 3pm game?

 

I'll check...
Available to UK fans too

 

Be over the moon with 4 points from the next 2

 

Do we have to? Last Saturday was quite enjoyable

 

why does it still tell you that you need the SAFSEE app for mobiles? It hasn't been available for nearly a year now and didn't work for a while before that...
Doesn't bother me too much as I use a PC, but does anyone try to view the games on a mobile?

 

Reckon we’ll get turned over. No confidence at all in this young squad and current coaching team to get us a result away from home.

 

Cheers RTB! I'm going for a score draw too.
2-2

 

Cant see us winning tbh. Im not optimistic

Lose 1-0

 

Can't wait for this, have a few mates going down and almost made it but the flight times were slightly out ... cheap enough though.

We have some important players back and there's no pressure on us so we can go for goals ...

... I'm going for a 3-2 win and a great day out for the lads

 

Didn't realise they'd been on such good form. Need some bodies back for this one and to find an attacking threat from somewhere. Hoping for a 1-1

 

Great thread again RTB. Only 7 more and you can have a well deserved break.

I like the look of that team, although I would prefer Kelly on the bench instead of Burstow.

They narrowly beat Stoke and Huddersfield, but only drew with Blackburn. Their big scalp was Ipswich, but saw that game and Ipswich bossed it for large periods. However, once Cardiff equalised late on, Ipswich's arses fell out.

My biggest fear is that they are the kind of long ball team that we struggle against and they've just been beaten by their local rivals, so I think they'll be well up for this one.

If we score, I think we'll get at least a point, but given our recent form, I doubt we'll keep a clean sheet. Heart says 1-1, Head says a defeat by the odd goal.

 

Hope we somehow turn the corner. Away from has been absolutely lifting this season. Nice to get a point or 3 on the road.

 

I watched that game too
We need to press them from the start a bit like Swansea did, and don't concede early.

 

In my opinion we need to go out there, play however we can and score more goals than them ...

... do that and, in my opinion, we'll win the game.

 

If I was Mike Dodds, I would stick Jobe up front for the rest of the season. We have enough options in midfield, whereas we all know how weak we have been up front, so we may as well go with someone who knows where the net is.

 

No, I’ve got to disagree there mate. I fear that we might score more goals than them but still lose.

 

Him or Dack, as poor as he’s been he finds space in the box no one else in this side does

 

That's my fear mate.

 

Just sorted a ticket for a lad for this game ...

... that's almost as good as me going.

Soft as clarts me