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Sunderland v Saints. Build-up Thread


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Let me start one for the first time. I'm attending this game, whilst taking advantage of Newcastle's excellent social life.

 

Horrified to learn that one of the most appalling refs, Mike Jones, is in charge, as he was in May when he gave them 2 soft penalties. Their only shots on target. Hopefully, someone will poke him in the eye, like Sissoko did, a couple of years ago.

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The 8-0 aside, they really are a bogey team for us. A couple of years ago they lost 7 of their first 8 games and in the other came within 2 minutes of winning at St Mary's.

 

Our last win up there was January 2003, Beattie scored in a 1-0. Since then, 1W 4D 3L in the League and a cup defeat.

 

Romeu in for Victor is the only change for me.

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The 8-0 aside, they really are a bogey team for us. A couple of years ago they lost 7 of their first 8 games and in the other came within 2 minutes of winning at St Mary's.

 

Our last win up there was January 2003, Beattie scored in a 1-0. Since then, 1W 4D 3L in the League and a cup defeat.

 

Romeu in for Victor is the only change for me.

 

One win since our last win?

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One win since our last win?

 

Our last win up there, that's our overall form. A bit confusing, point taken.

 

Our visits to Sunderland since then.

 

06/07 - 1-1 Playoff season, in which Sunderland went on to win the Championship. Bale gets a last minute equaliser.

12/13 - 1-1 Puncheon gets a late equaliser to secure our safety in the Premier League.

13/14 - 2-2 Saints throw away a 2-0 lead earned by J Rod and Lovren

13/14 - 1-0 Cup defeat. Saints are terrible.

14/15 - 2-1 defeat. Having not conceded a pen all season, we let in 2. JWP is sent off.

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Our last win up there, that's our overall form. A bit confusing, point taken.

 

Our visits to Sunderland since then.

 

06/07 - 1-1 Playoff season, in which Sunderland went on to win the Championship. Bale gets a last minute equaliser.

12/13 - 1-1 Puncheon gets a late equaliser to secure our safety in the Premier League.

13/14 - 2-2 Saints throw away a 2-0 lead earned by J Rod and Lovren

13/14 - 1-0 Cup defeat. Saints are terrible.

14/15 - 2-1 defeat. Having not conceded a pen all season, we let in 2. JWP is sent off.

 

PEDANT ALERT!

 

You've missed out our League Cup defeat also in 13/14. 2-1 Yoshida scored.

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PEDANT ALERT!

 

You've missed out our League Cup defeat also in 13/14. 2-1 Yoshida scored.

 

I'd forgotten about that one. Just looked at the team we played that night; Davis, Chambers, Yoshi, Hooiveld, Fox, Davis, Cork, Gaston, Reed, Lee J Rod. I think it's fair to say we gained a bit of depth since then.

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13/14 - 2-1 League Cup defeat. Yoshida scored. Sunderland were woeful but Saints just did not show up and gifted them the win.

13/14 - 2-2 Saints throw away a 2-0 lead earned by J Rod and Lovren.

13/14 - 1-0 Cup defeat. Saints were terrible, gifting them another win leaving me with the sneaking suspicion that MoPo

14/15 - 2-1 defeat. Having not conceded a pen all season, we let in 2. JWP is sent off.

 

I went to all four of these games in the last two seasons and have taken one or both of my daughters to the Saturday games (i.e. all but the league cup game). I'm taking them both again on Saturday, so I'm hoping that this time we can at last record a win - in fact a win by at least 3 goals would maybe go some of the way to making up for the previous dire experiences!

You've missed out our

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Despite this being a “winnerable” game on paper it remains one of the games I look forward to least in our fixture list. For whatever reason the Stadium of Light is one of those grounds where we seem incapable of getting a result no matter what run of form we are on. One of the worst away ends in my opinion stuck up in the upper tier behind the goal , charging us £34 this year with their fans in the corners either side of us just paying £25, they get away with it as technically a different stand. Stewards up there can be quite heavy handed as well. I would love to see them relegated this year.

 

As others have managed to summarise above we have not won on any of our last 6 visits there, the most painful being the FA Cup 5th round exit in 13/14 season with that w&nker Poch in charge, we were comfortable in the league at that time, whereas Sunderland were entrenched in a relegation battle AND had the distraction of a League Cup Final coming up, yet somehow Saints managed to put out a weak team and a performance that reflected that. Terrible storms the night before made it a tough journey for many of our fans (rail lines closed with trees on the track) , people setting off at 5am for the lunchtime kick off. Disgraceful , but expected with it being Sunderland away.

 

Last season’s game there was also a big disappointment as our run of away defeats at West Brom, Everton, Stoke, Sunderland, Leicester, Man City at the end of the season meant we dropped out of the automatic European spots.

 

Would be nice to get a win this week to reward the travelling fans, push us on in the league and extend our unbeaten away record .

 

I’d play;

 

Stekelenburg

Cedric

Fonte

Van Dyke

Romeu

Clasie

S. Davis

Tadic

Mane

Pelle

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Despite this being a “winnerable” game on paper it remains one of the games I look forward to least in our fixture list. For whatever reason the Stadium of Light is one of those grounds where we seem incapable of getting a result no matter what run of form we are on. One of the worst away ends in my opinion stuck up in the upper tier behind the goal , charging us £34 this year with their fans in the corners either side of us just paying £25, they get away with it as technically a different stand. Stewards up there can be quite heavy handed as well. I would love to see them relegated this year.

 

As others have managed to summarise above we have not won on any of our last 6 visits there, the most painful being the FA Cup 5th round exit in 13/14 season with that w&nker Poch in charge, we were comfortable in the league at that time, whereas Sunderland were entrenched in a relegation battle AND had the distraction of a League Cup Final coming up, yet somehow Saints managed to put out a weak team and a performance that reflected that. Terrible storms the night before made it a tough journey for many of our fans (rail lines closed with trees on the track) , people setting off at 5am for the lunchtime kick off. Disgraceful , but expected with it being Sunderland away.

 

Last season’s game there was also a big disappointment as our run of away defeats at West Brom, Everton, Stoke, Sunderland, Leicester, Man City at the end of the season meant we dropped out of the automatic European spots.

 

Would be nice to get a win this week to reward the travelling fans, push us on in the league and extend our unbeaten away record .

 

I’d play;

 

Stekelenburg

Cedric

Fonte

Van Dyke

Romeu

Clasie

S. Davis

Tadic

Mane

Pelle

 

I know we have finished last two league matches with 10 men, but a bit ambitious to start with 10

 

Personally I'd add Bertrand to that team

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I fancy us to win this one. We have been good on the road and they are very poor at the moment.

 

Wounded animal. Off the back of a 6-2, still smarting from a certain eight goal drubbing against their next opposition. Big Fat Sam will be demanding an improvement.

 

Sh*t ground for us but quietly hopeful of a positive result.

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Wounded animal. Off the back of a 6-2, still smarting from a certain eight goal drubbing against their next opposition. Big Fat Sam will be demanding an improvement.

 

Sh*t ground for us but quietly hopeful of a positive result.

They'll try too hard and we'll nick a couple of quick early goals, then sit back and play out the last 60 mins.

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If we play like we did in the first half against Leicester and Bournemouth - away win - if we play like we did in the second halves of those games - deep doodoo. Which Saints team will turn out against Sunderland?

 

What about if we play like we did in first half against Bournemouth and like we did in the second half against Leicester?

I think we'll win this by not scoring in the 1st hakf.

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1-0 Sunderland. They need a response after everton, think we'll have all the ball, they'll sit deep and defend better, we'll miss a few and they'll get a scrappy goal.

 

We may not win but I can't believe they'll keep a clean sheet. They really are diabolical defensively.

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I think (hope?) we'll have a slight refresh without Vic. Romeu will look to earn a more regular place back in the starting XI. Others will be fighting for their places, seeing as we have a stronger squad than last year...

 

Stek

Bertrand

Fonte

VvD

Cedric

Romeu

Clasie

Davis

Mane

Tadic

Pelle

 

Lessons will also be learned from B'mouth & Leicester, and courage taken from Chelsea, Swansea.

 

My prediction 3-0 Saints. :D

 

 

So, expect a 0-2 defeat at full time, then! :(

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We will lose this one. Another vintage Southampton away performance against Sunderland.

 

Tadic will go missing in this game as per. Everyone keeps harping on about how fantastic he is because he puts one good cross in each game, but he needs to be dropped. He goes missing for large periods, and would rather utilise S.Davis out there who has a more consistent delivery.

 

2-0 loss on Saturday.

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Tadic will go missing in this game as per. Everyone keeps harping on about how fantastic he is because he puts one good cross in each game, but he needs to be dropped. He goes missing for large periods, and would rather utilise S.Davis out there who has a more consistent delivery.

 

I'm genuinely not sure if this is a joke.

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Sunderland are there for the taking. A change of manager doesn't change their squad which is clearly one of the poorest in the Division. If Allardyce is trying to change their playing style, that may well make things worse for them as they won't be used to a new way of playing, whereas if he leaves it alone, things will go on for them as before. Difficult situation for Sunderland and hard to see them improving. As for Saints, 7th against 19th, an easy away win.

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Sunderland are there for the taking. A change of manager doesn't change their squad which is clearly one of the poorest in the Division. If Allardyce is trying to change their playing style, that may well make things worse for them as they won't be used to a new way of playing, whereas if he leaves it alone, things will go on for them as before. Difficult situation for Sunderland and hard to see them improving. As for Saints, 7th against 19th, an easy away win.

 

 

 

Did Sunderland even have a playing style to change? They have had so many managers I doubt they've managed to pin down a playing style in the last few seasons............unless **** is a style.

 

 

 

If nothing else big Sam will make them harder to beat but he hasn't had enough time to implement his way of doing things yet hopefully this isn't the week the Sunderland players "get it"

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We will lose this one. Another vintage Southampton away performance against Sunderland.

 

Tadic will go missing in this game as per. Everyone keeps harping on about how fantastic he is because he puts one good cross in each game, but he needs to be dropped. He goes missing for large periods, and would rather utilise S.Davis out there who has a more consistent delivery.

 

2-0 loss on Saturday.

 

:mcinnes:

 

or

 

:lo:

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We will lose this one. Another vintage Southampton away performance against Sunderland.

 

Tadic will go missing in this game as per. Everyone keeps harping on about how fantastic he is because he puts one good cross in each game, but he needs to be dropped. He goes missing for large periods, and would rather utilise S.Davis out there who has a more consistent delivery.

 

2-0 loss on Saturday.

 

Absolutely clueless. How many games have you actually seen this season? :mcinnes: For me, Tadic is the best out and out wide man in the Premier League at the moment and I fear we wont see him in a Saints shirt next year. I am a big fan of Davo but he would never have produced the assist for Pelle's goal. Davis has a great engine but when push comes to shove its gotta be Dusan starting.

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I can't see us losing for as long as their CB partnership is Wes Brown and Seb Coates, and they have Cattermole hammering around fouling in front of them, they're just not any good. We'd have to sleepwalk BOTH halves (like we did last season) to not get a win this time.

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We will lose this one. Another vintage Southampton away performance against Sunderland.

 

Tadic will go missing in this game as per. Everyone keeps harping on about how fantastic he is because he puts one good cross in each game, but he needs to be dropped. He goes missing for large periods, and would rather utilise S.Davis out there who has a more consistent delivery.

 

2-0 loss on Saturday.

 

Madness tadic is having good season. A lot of pundits say our front 3 is as good as anything in prem.

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I can't see us losing for as long as their CB partnership is Wes Brown and Seb Coates, and they have Cattermole hammering around fouling in front of them, they're just not any good. We'd have to sleepwalk BOTH halves (like we did last season) to not get a win this time.

 

This is why they conceded 6 to Everton. I'd add special mention as well of Van Aahnholt in that regard. I can see a bore draw. Allardyce surely won't allow a repeat.

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Tadic is the only player with any creative guile on this team and the talent to pull it off. We need Tadic on the pitch and on the left (Koeman!).

 

However, this is not meant to imply that Davis, Mane, and Pelle aren't doing their jobs brilliantly. It's hard to imagine anyone other than those 4 in the squad breaking into those four starting positions right now based on current form. And I have been a 'meh' on Davis in the past, but he is having a really, really good season and has earned a starting position.

 

on a side note, I would like to see what Clasie could do in the central AM position at some point this season; maybe as a 70' substitute when a game is in hand. However, I don't think having Tadic and Clasie forward at the same time makes tactical sense as they both seem to think "pass first, shoot second". I really would like to find away to get Clasie a bit more involved on the offensive side of the pitch. Last Saturday's 1st goal gave us a little snippet of what he could be capable of when he threaded that thru ball to Pelle.

 

we have the luxury of time with Clasie, so that is good.

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I don't get why Tadic is supposed to be brilliant all of the time. Plenty of quality players "go missing" at times during matches and for a variety of reasons. George Best wasn't on fire every game for 90 mins. He is there to add that bit of extra quality that will lead to a goal, not to chase all over the pitch trying to win the ball back. He and Pelle have been quality this season.

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This is why they conceded 6 to Everton. I'd add special mention as well of Van Aahnholt in that regard. I can see a bore draw. Allardyce surely won't allow a repeat.

 

Van Aanholt actually looked very good going forward against Everton, but defensively...

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Sunderland are not a good team. There is a reason they have only won a single game this season. And that was against the other terrible team, and they still looked terrible. I don't think Everton's thrashing will give them more spine, I think it equally likely to reduce their confidence further. If we don't beat them it would be a bad result. They are not due a win, because they are not good enough. I hope they go down, one less team with red and white stripes makes us stand out more. No Wanyama, no problem for me, this isn't the kind of game we need him for.

 

We have the players to beat them, I am starting to think that maybe we are playing with less intensity at the beggining of the season, so we have more left at the end, and Leicester will end up like us last year limping towards the line come April and May.

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Good if Long is available.

 

If Fat Sam does decide they need to do something different (which they clearly do need to do!) then defending deeper to stop their rank centre backs being turned seems like a likely strategy. If that is the case and he does manage to make them solid between last weekend and this one then having an extra physical presence in the box could be useful if we are chasing a goal.

 

Although even better if we are 5-0 up and can bring Pelle off!

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