Match Day Thread Sunderland v Burton Albion - Tuesday 26th November - KO 19:45

Sunderland v Burton Albion – Skybet League One

Last time out Sunderland drew with Coventry and Burton lost at Peterborough.
Sunderland are likely to be without Lynden Gooch and Charlie Wyke through injury. George Dobson is unavailable after picking up another yellow card and now faces a one match ban.
Phil Parkinson is struggling to find the answers to get his Sunderland squad firing, Saturday's last gasp draw with Coventry was the eighth time in his ten games in charge that he has failed to manage a victory.
Burton are 15th in the table, 5 places and 6 points behind the Black Cats, but with games in hand on most other teams.
Phil Parkinson:
“Yeah - very pleased for Benji (Kimpioka) - he came off the bench and lit the place up with his goal. He was calm and we needed that moment of calmness to get back in the game"
"Benji is doing everything he can to get into the team more. He is training well and he has got to keep knocking on the door. When his chance comes he has to be ready to make another statement."
"It’s an excuse to say the Stadium of Light is a difficult place for us to play. If the lads show commitment and bravery in their play then our fans will get right behind us."
"Conor McLaughlin is back from suspension. Jordan Willis had some cramp in his calf and a slight pain in his knee on Saturday, but he has trained today."
"We know tomorrow is an important match. We have a 10-day break after this so it’s an important night for us. It’s a game we must perform well in and hopefully that will be enough to get three points."
Nigel Clough:
“It was very harsh for us to lose a game that we controlled almost from start to finish that way. It was a very composed, disciplined, mature performance in the first half and we created numerous opportunities, but didn’t get that goal."
“That leaves you open to someone putting a screamer in and that seems to happen to us with too much regularity - it happened at Salford in the FA Cup recently and again today. A lot of the time those fly into the stands, but they seem to be going in the back of our nets at the moment."
Form:


Prutton predicts: Meh
Match Appointments:
Referee: ROBERT LEWIS
Assistant Referees:Simon Clayton and Christopher Ward
Fourth Offical: Mark Dwyer

Team Line ups
Sunderland: Burge, C.McLaughlin, Lynch, Willis, De Bock, Watmore, Power, O’Nien, Hume, McNulty, Kimpioka

Subs: McLaughlan, Flanagan, Taylor, Leadbitter, Maguire, McGeady, Grigg
Injured: Embleton, Wyke, Gooch
Suspended: Dobson

Burton Albion: O'Hara, Brayford, O'Toole, Nartey, Wallace, Edward, Quinn, Fraser, Sarkic, Akins, Templeton.
Subs: Daniel, Buxton, Sbarra, Anderson, Garratt, Boyce,
Injured: Broadhead

Betting Odds:
Home 19/20 Away 13/5 Draw 5/2

My two pence:
After yet another poor performance surely Parkinson has to rotate some of the squad. I’m hoping that he and the team will start to turn it around, Albion are on a similar run of poor form.
My guess is a 1-0 home win.

Ha’way the Lads

 

even my level of optimism is on the wane heart says win brain says scudded

 

Everything's gonna click.

4-0 Watmore, McGuire, Benji and Hume

 

I think the best we can hope for is a draw coz we are THAT bad!! But we’ll not even get that. 0-2 for me and possibly the end for PP.

Bart

 

It is a toss up, if I trot along tomorrow night?

A win is required...with two poor teams it may the outcome comes down to which is the least worst

 

Win or bust.

 

We should have been humped on Saturday but managed to hang on and nick a point.

Provided Parky sets us up the way we finished the game I'll go for a draw. Otherwise, away win.

 

No doubt Nigel will have them chomping at the bit to rub our noses in it - he's got the knack.

 

We could lose 6 nowt and the 3 amigos ( SD, CM & RH ) wouldnt peddle him.
He's here for another 2.5 seasons so get used to it.

 

why has Benji not been in the starting line up from the start of this season, my opinion is Grigg, Flanagan, and 2 others out on loan at least and Maddison, and another striker (there is some good league one strikers the Coventry lad is one) a midfielder like Mcgeady and 6'5" defender in. Burton kept Toney and Aisa at bay so will be tough tomorrow, but i go 1-0 and will gan now cos the next home game is 14th december ! Blackpool another tough match. Also will be interesting to see how Oxford cope will a hell of a lot of extra cup games this season.

 

Shocked at this

 

Sadly can't see beyond an away win as we are that poor.
fans are kidding themselves if they think January signings are going to be some miracle cure to what's going wrong at the club.
I'm usually glass half full but this lot have finally pissed me off and I can't really see when this demise is going to end.
nobody would be more pleased with a home win of any score, I wait in hope.

 

Not for me - I'll be there regardless. Yes I'm one of "Those" fans as you already know

 

Nigel Clough saying most teams cant compete with the likes of us and Ipswich.
'Not a level playing field ' in terms of finances and resources!!
Here we all are feeling sorry for ourselves re money and compared with the vast majority in this league we are minted.
Shows how badly we are run on and off the field even in this pub league.
Hiring crap managers and keeping hold of them when it is clear they are failing or have failed.
Compound that with an inept and amateurish football operations who keep plying the managers with players that arent fit for purpose ( or even fit ) and we aren't doing ourselves any favours. The owners in cahoots with the director of football have hired another insipid straw clutching yes man.
How many times are we going to shoot ourselves in the foot?

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........................

 

Just looked at the form - they're in a worse position than us on that front at present - only team the've beaten recently is Salford City!!


Christ I wish that hadn't come to my mind

 

I think you have a complete and deep-seated misunderstanding of what football managers do. Ross got us to the play-off final despite being shorn of a regular goalscorer for the most part of last season. The squad now is arguably worse than last season's squad and he still had us within touching distance. Now Phil Parkinson and has come in and you expect things to be radically different- he's working with the same players and the same problems that Ross had.

 

Time for change surely, and a win.

 

Standard pre match patter that every opposition manager uses to fire up his own players.
It would be interesting to hear more practical solutions, to move us forward, surely we cant just get rid of everyone, how would that work ?

 

Chin up mate. Like a lot of people who were at the Coventry game, I left feeling deflated, even though we got the late equaliser. The current squad, no matter what other teams managers say, is not good enough.

However, if what was said at the talk-ins are true, and we are going to bring five in, then they have to be players who are going to go straight in to the team. We don't need bench warmers.
There's a well known saying "One man doesn't make a team", and that's generally true - but five can make a hell of a difference.

Parky has come out and said what a lot of us have been saying for ages - we need more pace and more physicality in the team. Get five in that fit that description, and ditch the ones who won't work their bollocks off for this club, and we should have more than enough to compete and triumph at this level.

Right Back, Centre Mid, 2 pacy wingers and a new striker, and it's Bob's your Aunties live in lover!