Andy84

Trying to absolve himself of blame and he's done the NUFC classic of releasing news 2 weeks until our next game in the hope it blows over.

Draw. Mackems will beat WBA and we'll be further in the mire

Exactly. Some positivity albeit slim is back and this poisonous oaf decides to open his mouth. F*** off.

He looked broken in his post match interviews, you could see the beads of sweat. His ego can't take the pressure, I remember him saying earlier on in the season "well there's a reason we are 5th in the division" what's the reason your team are now 16th and without a win in 2016 Al?? He knows his utterly s*** patter and excuses are starting to wear very thin. They've got tough games as well coming up but it doesn't really matter who they play at the moment, he doesn't have an answer or a clue what to do in order to turn it around. His mask has slipped and the result is absolutely beautiful. Wrighty reckoned they would get Europe man

Cheers for that insight Ross

According to his stats it was his 75th career goal today

Wants away and it shows

Played for the Mackems and smashed an effort into the top corner before doing a sshhhhh celebration, God I hate him

Don't feel too downbeat, still a poor result but for once it was us getting a late equaliser. We managed to drag ourselves back into the game and finished stronger which is a positive sign. No-one wanted a draw but I would have taken it half time. If the roles were reversed and we conceded late it would have been gut wrenching.

Agree with this, we might need a "surprise" win in one of our tougher games imo. Have a feeling it will go down to the last day. Let's hope the title race is sorted

Absolutely s**** and I'm pleased we won't see him for at least 2 games, hopefully longer

Drew with Villa man

We need to keep the pressure on them throughout the game, I'm hopeful that Benitez's plan of being very organised will be the perfect tonic to Sunderlands tactics. If we went gung ho it would play into their hands perfectly imo. Every time the ball breaks down in their half we need to win it back quickly, strangle them in midfield and don't allow them to break on us. The pressure just needs to build and build and chances will arrive.

I think our best chance is to exploit them in the full back positions, they aren't great defensively there. Townsend and Sissoko will be important. Their CB's will handle Mitrovic if we lump aimless balls into the box so the link up play between our wide players, Wijnaldum and Perez is going to be crucial. For an Allardyce team they don't have many shut outs so there is positivity there, the first goal as always is just so important. Get it and we win

Yep, no protection at all in front of the back four which is fragile enough to start with. Not necessarily. I think whatever the team we'll be organised. It's reassuring to know that our manager knows how to set a team up

Bodega is canny

I think a lot of people are building up the quality of Sunderland in their minds, it's natural. Sunderland do have a better spine since January with the signing of Kone, M'vila is a decent as well. Defoe is still an okay goal scorer. We are having our poorest season in years and we have still been above them most of the season and only 1 point behind now, even under McClaren. Due to the 6 in a row and our predicament I still think people think Sunderland are a better side than they are, like us they don't win many, they don't keep clean sheets. It's finely balanced but I'm convinced we will be the better side on Sunday, I think we will play well and the result will take care of itself.

Yes, in a nutshell.

The wait this week for this One minute I think we've got Benitez, he's class, he will have us the best we can be in terms of preparation and we will win this. Next minute I'm thinking they are going to score another 90th minute winner.

Need a West Ham at home type performance, intensity, pressing and a fair bit of quality. We can do it

First thread, beginners luck. Our season is this Sunday. 2-0

Ahh a defeat . The universe is balanced after all this postivity

Absolutely bricking it

I think the majority of NUFC fans think this is probably too late, we were definitely down under McClaren, we might not go down now. That's good enough for me

You are spot on but we aren't cut adrift in the bottom 3 and its now a case of winning our key games , Sunderland and Norwich then hopefully bettering or matching their results. The Sunderland and Norwich games are do or die basically