Match Day Thread Sunderland v Gillingham - Saturday 7th March - KO 15:00

Sunderland v Gillingham – Skybet League One

Last time out Sunderland lost at Coventry and Gillingham lost to Wimbledon.
Sunderland will be looking to bounce back after the defeat to League leaders Coventry City.
The Black Cats could make a few changes to the starting eleven, which has remained virtually unchanged during the last few months despite the additional resources who joined during the transfer window.
The Gills have shown that they are no push overs, and have beaten Sunderland twice this season. Captain Max Ehmer is a doubt after going off injured at the weekend.
Phil Parkinson:
“It looks like it was the right decision. I’m not sure how they came to it, but Max has had a shot and it’s hit Luke on the heel and deflected past the 'keeper.”
“He’s in an offside position, so we can’t complain about the call.”
“It was obviously a big game, a top-of-the-table clash live on TV, but I just felt that it was a bit frantic. We made changes and got two very attacking players in wing-back positions with Lafferty and Wyke up top, and we probably lost a bit of cohesion in our play then, but we had to have a go in the last ten or 15 minutes to try to get back into it. We didn’t quite do that, although the effort and commitment from the boys couldn’t be faulted."
“It was a tight game, and unfortunately we’ve come out the wrong side of it.”
"Gillingham will come here and be physical. We have got to stretch the pitch and really try to move the ball quickly. We have got to be ready from the off, but calm enough to make the right decisions."
Steve Evans:
“I think his shoulder just popped out, Max (Ehmer) has had this problem for a couple of years. Sometimes he just pops it back in and it settles down and he’s fine after a few days."
“We have to go to Sunderland and get a positive result. We never said that we had to win every game, but it’s a sucker punch because this is a game that we expected to win.”
"We have to use this, the hurt you get, take the criticism that comes despite the fact that it’s 15 unbeaten. We didn’t do enough today, we were second best all over the pitch.”
“I’m not Joey Barton, who’s got a big connection with Newcastle and wants to wind up Sunderland supporters."
“Everything about Sunderland Football Club is fantastic. The stadium, the training ground, the owners, the professionalism, the fan base is incredible."

Prutton predicts: meh
Match Appointments:
Referee: ANTONY COGGINS
Assistant Referees: Joe Simpson and Danny Gratton
Fourth Official: Matthew Dicicco

Team Line ups
Sunderland: McLaughlin, O’Nien, Flanagan, Ozturk, Willis, Hume, Power, Dobson, Semenyo, Maguire, Lafferty.

Subs: Burge, McLaughlin, Scowen, Lynch, Grigg, Gooch, Wyke.
Injured: Embleton, Wright

Gillingham: Bonham, Fuller, Ehmer, Tucker, Ogilvie, Jones, O'Keefe, O'Connor, Lee, Hanlan, Akinde
Subs: Willock, Mandron, Roberts, Charles-Cook, Pringle, Graham, Walsh
Injured: TBC

Betting Odds:
Home 4/5 Away 10/3 Draw 23/10

My two pence:
Another important game and one that we really need to win, especially after the last two results. All is not lost, but getting back on a winning run is important. The Gills have been a bit of a thorn in our side this season, but I think we will bounce back.
My guess is a 2-0 win.

Ha’way the Lads

 

We'll change things a little bit, shake off the poor last couple of results and give Gillingham a thumping. 3-0, Maguire, Semenyo, O'Nien

 

7-0. Someone is going to be hammered by us soon and we may just find this free scoring winning team this weekend with a couple of tweaks.

 

Coming across all Victor Meldrew here, but it seems to me that when it comes to the top teams, we seem unable to compete.

 

Thanks for the OP...

After losing and drawing against two rivals, we are not in so good a position as hoped..

Still when there are still games to play, there is some hope. Putting it frankly we have to win every game and others lose some.

We have to find the goal scoring touch, our defence is still good we have only let in 1 goal (in the opening minutes) in the past two important games, but have struggled to score ourselves.

 

I reckon we'll win 1-0 in a closely fought match. Max to get the winner again. His goals come in clusters...I think

HTL

 

dont say that, i hinted at 7 against Fleetwood

Hope your right like
10 games is it to go ?

The count down is on

 

The Metro line is closed all weekend between Heworth and Brockley Whins. They have replacement buses.

 

Must win will win.

 

2-0, McGuire and Ozturk

 

4-1 and the season is back on track. Semenyo, Lafferty and John all to start. Lafferty, Power, Flanno and Goooooch with the goals. And a red card for their manager because he is a bellend.

 

Where the f*ck did they get that name Brockley Whins (previously Felgate I think). ffs the Yanks have Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Francisco etc all decent sounding. We have Brockley effing Whins.

 

It’s deffo a Must Win game this one!!

3-0 to The Lads.

Bart

 

Gillingham have lost one game this year.
I'm expecting a bore draw.
Unless maybe Parky freshens the team.
He might as well throw in some new blood.
The old blood is a bit stale.

 

Badgers Bushes sounds worse

 

Parky's Presser:

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"The aim now is by next Saturday to get right in contention for the top two."
" We have got a big week of three games in seven days so everybody in our squad has got to be ready. "
"There are players knocking on the door so yes, there is a possibly of changing things up."
"Due to the coronavirus, the lads will not be allowed to go abroad when we have our break later this month."
"Gillingham are a very hard team to beat. We have got to make sure the pitch is as big as it can be and play quickly to come away with the victory."
"Elliot Embleton is back involved in training. If we can get him through next week then he will be close to contention."

 

Disagree mate.Dont think it's a must win but definetly I hope we ****ing do! There will still be 27 ish points to play for, cov will hit a bad patch, Fleetwood's run will not continue. Rotherham are stalling a bit. I reckon must win is an exageration

 

Tight home win. Tings need changing but cannot think what I'd do. Tempted to rest Hume, Wyke & Goochie. Add Scowen to the middle, Semenyo on the left and Maguire alongside Lafferty up top.

****knows, eh

 

Wheels have come off, 1-1 as gills are physical and no pushovers.

 

We've had the odd flat tyre but TBF, in our last six games, we've conceded two goals, won four and only lost to the top team.

Rotherham iirc, in the last month, have gone from being eleven points ahead of us to four points ahead. They've won one of the last four and are conceding more than one goal a game while we've conceded two in our last six.

If our wheels have come off they've driven off a cliff.

It's time to pump up the tyres, set the satnav for the Championship and put our foot to the floor.

3-0 to Sunderland and right back on track ...

... Flanagan and two from Maguire to put us in the driving seat.