Sunderland 1-0 Bolton

This is going to be a tough one, i can't see us winning there to be honest so if you offered me a draw now i'd snap your hand off.

Head says 2-1 to Sunderland, heart says 1-1

We'll get dicked. 3-0 to the home side.

Like Nat I can't see us getting anything at Sunderland and like Norp I would take a point now.

Evatt needs to get our defence sorted if we are going to do any better than mid-table.

They're an excellent side so I'm wondering if Evatt has a plan to deal with them. If we sit back they'll murder us by a cricket score so it's going to need a monumental effort all round to get anything. Unfortunately I don't think we will but TBH I'd be less depressed about it if we give them a run for their money.
2 - 1 to them if we play well.

It’s a difficult one this because despite their position, I don’t see Sunderland as anything special. If we take our chances we can certainly win this but since I suspect we won’t I’d settle now for a point. Like Cajunboy, it’s our defence that worries me most because I just can’t see us stopping the opposition scoring. If we can just firm that up I’d be more confident. Once again I’d consider playing Lee next to MJ in the middle because we look so much more solid with them together rather than MJ and Sheehan. I’d consider either leaving Izzy out and playing Josh up with Sarce, or leave Sarce on the bench and play Sheehan further forward instead.

Feel like we can beat anyone in this division in our day, problem is we’re so flakey it’s impossible to predict when our day will be.

Hi, hope you don’t mind me popping on to have a chat about the game.

First, it is good to see Bolton on the way back, like us you are not a third tier club, we might both have had third tier teams recently but as clubs we should both be higher than we are. In both cases we have suffered from awful owners who have almost killed our clubs. However as fans we will always be there.

As to the game tomorrow, as you might expect with form of 8 wins one draw and one defeat in all competitions so far this season we are confident of beating any team just now, that’s not to say we will be keeping that sort of form up all season, if we did we would win the league by 20 points and that just does not happen.

Over the last nine months Sunderland have seen a total change in all areas of the club since we were taken over by a 24yr old son of the former owner of Marseille, who has brought in a complete new staff and a data driven approach to all things at the club including recruitment. Gone are the days of buying players with experience of winning in this league, there is a reason they are still playing in this league! Instead we have focused on players who fit the system have the passing accuracy the fitness levels and pace to play in a given style of play. As a consequence we have signed young players with ability, some on loan such as Doyle from Man City, who on what we have seen is an outstanding 17 year old and will be a key player for England at the 2026 World Cup. Others we have signed form top flight academies, such as Cirkin, an England Under 20 international, who was offered a contract to stay at Spurs, but instead came here on a permanent deal. 

We have also made good use of our own young players Embleton, who was out on loan at Blackpool last season and played a key role in their promotion, is back on the fold, he is a gifted young player capped at every age group up to under 20 , who had a couple of injuries and his progress stalled, but is now back on track, the pick of our own crop is 19 yr old Dan Neil, playing in the middle he is pulling the strings like a much more experienced player, always looking for that forward pass into space or through the channels. 

A lot of heads were turned when we let Wyke go and would not match the wage Wigan have offered, rumoured to be £10k a week. Yes he got 31 goals last season, but with him in the team we only had one way to play and teams will work that out in the second season and kill off your game plan. It also meant we were slow in the build up which made it harder to break teams down. InRoss Stewart, we have a more gifted all round footballer, he has pace can hold the ball up and bring players into the game, he also works his socks off running 20 yards or more to get a tackle in on the half way line to stop the opponent from starting attacks. Then there are the two signings from Bayern Munich, both loans with the option to buy if we are promoted.

Add in McGeady and we have a squad with pace and ability and a style of fast moving attacking play.

The average age of the team has dropped by about 4 years over the summer.

As fans we are loving it, for the first time in a long time we are looking forward to watching the football not just supporting the team.

I almost forgot about the experience we have signed, Prichard, who only a couple of years ago went for something like £15m and Cory Evans for Blackburn.

Something special is happening to our club and it looks like you are having a rebirth as well, I hope to be chatting to you lot in a few years time before a top flight game.

Hello and welcome mate.

A good write up about your team, thank you.

Hope you have a great season and get automatic promotion...

...with us being one place better than you in the table at seasons end!

All the best for tomorrow but hope you lose!!!

Always had a soft spot for Sunderland, due mainly to Charlie Hurley, but I'm hoping we can put one over on them tomorrow. Be tough though.

Sunderland should be in a higher division with their fanbase and stadium, but from what you've said you seem to be going in the right direction, especially since you ditched that serial football entertainer Parky 

Norpig wrote:Sunderland should be in a higher division with their fanbase and stadium, but from what you've said you seem to be going in the right direction, especially since you ditched that serial football entertainer Parky 

Please don’t mention that name I still have mental scars from the football he played and the players he signed.

Safcinpeace wrote:
Please don’t mention that name I still have mental scars from the football he played and the players he signed.

 We loved him too but to be fair he did get us promoted from league 1. The football or hoofball as it was known, wasn't a pretty watch.

I tried to load a link to the Sunderland not606 match preview as I thought you might be interested, but as a new comer I am not allowed to do that for seven days. Anyhow pop over there and have a read and if you like it add a link . Thanks

Always liked Aiden McGeady since his Celtic days and with him on the pitch there's always the chance that he'll produce a bit of magic. Other Sunderland signings are quality too - Pritchard was excellent for Naaaaaaaaaaarch.
I guess Sunderland are following a similar path to us - although we can't really afford quality ex-prem players to balance the youngsters TBH - still it should be a cracking match and there will be goals.

wanderlust wrote:Always liked Aiden McGeady since his Celtic days and with him on the pitch there's always the chance that he'll produce a bit of magic. Other Sunderland signings are quality too - Pritchard was excellent for Naaaaaaaaaaarch.
I guess Sunderland are following a similar path to us - although we can't really afford quality ex-prem players to balance the youngsters TBH - still it should be a cracking match and there will be goals.

Up to now Pritchard is on the bench he is having to fight to get a starting place with the others in midfield , in particular Embleton. When gets on the pitch you can see the quality, but Embleton is even better, a two footed attacking midfielder, who genuinely doesn’t have a better foot. Nightmare for defenders as they don’t have a weak foot to put him on

Welcome Safc, really looking forward to tomorrow’s game and it should be played in front of a big crowd and great atmosphere. You’ve had a brilliant start to the season, as would we have if we hadn’t slipped up against Rotherham last week, so there is much to anticipate. Clearly you have to be odds on favourites tomorrow but I certainly wouldn’t write us off. If we can find the shooting boots we misplaced last week we might just surprise you. Anyway, whatever happens it should be a cracking advertisement for L1 football with two teams playing the game as it should be and not a Parky in sight!!

29083 home tickets sold so far, with your 2,000, which is a great turn out, we will be over 30,000. It will be like old days. If you are coming up enjoy the day, the beer, the banter, the football, but not the result

Safcinpeace wrote:29083 home tickets sold so far, with your 2,000, which is a great turn out, we will be over 30,000. It will be like old days. If you are coming up enjoy the day, the beer, the banter, the football, but not the result

Sadly I’m not going Safc, so I can’t enjoy any of those things but I’m hoping that it’s you who won’t enjoy the result!