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We should absolutely be backing the lads. FFS, its what young players need - feeling like their matches matter, playing with some pressure on and backing. Not silence and being able to hear the manager shouting every time the ball goes out of play.

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Have to remember this is not our reserves who will be playing.

Our reserves, or covering players, would look something like :-

Darlow, Manquillo Lascelles Schär Sterry, Murphy Shelvey Hayden Atsu, Muto Joselu and that team would hammer any 3rd division set up.

It's our academy development squad who will be playing Sunderland and even though many won't even recognise their names they would give most 3rd division sides a decent game.

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Have to remember this is not our reserves who will be playing.

Our reserves, or covering players, would look something like :-

Darlow, Manquillo Lascelles Schär Sterry, Murphy Shelvey Hayden Atsu, Muto Joselu and that team would hammer any 3rd division set up.

It's our academy development squad who will be playing Sunderland and even though many won't even recognise their names they would give most 3rd division sides a decent game.

 

Most of those you listed are first team squad regulars? How many reserves or U23’s or whatever it’s called now is made up of fringe players and first team subs?

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Have to remember this is not our reserves who will be playing.

Our reserves, or covering players, would look something like :-

Darlow, Manquillo Lascelles Schär Sterry, Murphy Shelvey Hayden Atsu, Muto Joselu and that team would hammer any 3rd division set up.

It's our academy development squad who will be playing Sunderland and even though many won't even recognise their names they would give most 3rd division sides a decent game.

Given our recent cup pedigree I'm not too sure of that.
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Have to remember this is not our reserves who will be playing.

Our reserves, or covering players, would look something like :-

Darlow, Manquillo Lascelles Schär Sterry, Murphy Shelvey Hayden Atsu, Muto Joselu and that team would hammer any 3rd division set up.

It's our academy development squad who will be playing Sunderland and even though many won't even recognise their names they would give most 3rd division sides a decent game.

 

Most of those you listed are first team squad regulars? How many reserves or U23’s or whatever it’s called now is made up of fringe players and first team subs?

 

Point was that once upon a time the "reserve" team was made up of the senior players who weren't first choice or getting a regular game. So that team above would have pretty much been the reserve team.

I'd be very surprised if any of them featured against Sunderland as we will have a few first team games around that time and it will be a side made up of entirely academy U23 side that plays against them.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46513910

 

Sunderland AFC: A season of pain, passion and torment relived in Netflix show

 

It could prove a hard sell for Sunderland fans.

 

A season of abject misery and footballing torture is about to be relived through a Netflix series documenting their Championship relegation season of 2017-18.

 

But while 'Sunderland Til I Die' is sure to be tough viewing for their fans, nine months of warts-and-all behind-the-scenes pain, is bound to make a fascinating watch.

 

The much-acclaimed Manchester City Amazon Prime documentary 'All or Nothing' followed Pep Guardiola's all-conquering side as they stormed to Premier League glory in the same season.

 

After a trailer was released on Monday, here is a flavour of what you can expect from Sunderland's eight-part series from the other end of the scale when it first hits screens on Friday.

 

Fan fury

Seeing Sunderland's painful slide into the third tier for the first time in 30 years provoked an inevitable mix of passion, pain and sometimes almost uncontrollable anger.

 

Supporters witnessed just seven league wins in 46 matches, from a season many had hoped would see them get back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

 

"Absolutely pathetic. We are sick of it," one soundbite reaction to another defeat sums up the feeling of many a long-suffering fan.

 

The humiliation and heartache is there for all to see.

 

The slide towards oblivion

Chance of salvation arrived in the form of another new manager in November.

 

But Sunderland were already bottom of the table with just one win to their name by the time Chris Coleman was appointed as Simon Grayson's successor.

 

Even a manager who had guided underdogs Wales to the Euro 2016 semi-finals would have his work cut out trying to stop the rot and placating an increasingly unsettled and unhappy set of supporters.

 

He lasted until the the end of April, but it was a bumpy ride as the documentary shows, through one-to-one interviews, his interaction with fans and the unintrusive filming.

 

One city, one team, no walking away

It's the hope that kills. Despite the heartache, there were still some moments of cheer during a desperate spell.

 

It's only football, after all. And while winning feels like everything, it's your club, come what may.

 

It helps to win, though. One of the Black Cats' rare victories came over high-flying Fulham in December. Two weeks later an away win over Nottingham Forest saw 2017 end on a high.

 

The highs were few and far between. But when you name your first-born son Niall after much-revered former striker Niall Quinn, as one fan does in the documentary, your commitment cannot be questioned.

 

And it's pretty tricky to walk away... even if your club is relegated for the second season in succession, you have had seven bosses in five years and you witness 23 league defeats in a season.

 

He's one of our own

 

One of the few bright spots was the emergence of current captain George Honeyman.

 

He is just one of the players who features prominently and, as a home-grown talent, his development brings a big positive. More seasoned campaigners, including John O'Shea, also face the cameras.

 

Divine intervention

If all else fails, just pray. It's often said football is a religion in the north east.

 

The documentary shows that to be true, as almost everyone - including the church - get involved to try to lift spirits and performances.

 

It's about keeping the faith, even when nothing seems to work.

 

Getting it out of your system

Supporters of a certain club just down the road, who play in black and white, are probably frantically checking out the quickest way to get Netflix subscription and ordering in the popcorn.

 

But, maybe, it might just turn out to be therapeutic for those in red and white.

 

"Let's get it out of out system and move on."

 

The healing process could be completed after eight weeks.

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Guest firetotheworks

I wonder if it'll mention when they knowingly played an active paedophile and then significant numbers of their fans defended it. #WereSunderlandTilWeTurnABlindEye

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Guest Howaythetoon

They're really enjoying the season though, so much so that 8200 bothered to turn up for an FA Cup match.

 

 

I personally wouldn’t belittle their support, especially in games like this. In jest maybe, but nothing more. They are a well supported club and like our own club, don’t quite deserve such a following or haven’t exactly done anything to justify such a following.

 

I’ve never been one for belittling the free tickets thing either, although I’m pretty sure it wasnt some altruistic act of charity by the club to reach out to the wider community in the way cheaper season tickets or price freezes at our own club wasn’t either.

 

What I do think the free ticket thing and their attendance figures do show, however, is the sol’s capacity is far too large for the kind of club Sunderland are and their fanbase where full houses are conditional and based on so many factors.

 

Our full houses is pretty much unconditional, although I think if the roles were reversed, we’d do well to get 30k gates as well.

 

They should have capped it at a max of 40k.

 

Their attendances shouldn’t be mocked and we shouldn’t compare our own against theirs or anyone else’s really.

 

If anything both clubs’ large followings have been as much of a curse as a blessing. 50k averages every home game in the top-flight of the championship has made life much easier for the likes of Mike Ashley.

 

Clubs whose attendances should be mocked are Man City and Chelsea.

 

Wigan/Bolton generally get mocked for having so many empty seats or used to even when they were a PL club, but some clubs will never be able to pull in a huge following ever home game or even away and while bigger capacities help clubs to grow and for more and more people to attend, every club will have a hardcore unconditional following and it’s that following who will always follow their club no matter what.

 

I was at Brisbane Road a few weeks back to watch Gateshead, over 4000 home fans and 30 or so Heed fans. The away part of the South stand was empty, but Gateshead aren’t going to take a thousand or so fans away from home and Orient arent going to suddenly grow an extra 1,000 followers just to watch them play Gateshead in the conference.

 

Why should a club’s true following/support be judged like that?

 

Fair enough at City or Chelsea whose success if enjoyed at NUFC or Sunderland would fill tens of thousands of more seats where as if they swapped places with our clubs there would be even more empty seats.

 

8k for a Tuesday 2nd Round FA Cup match given where Sunderland are at right now shouldn’t be mocked, I bet most of those fans were kids and families and not regulars. Our own cup attendances have always been boosted by non regulars who without we would see similar figures as regular match day going fans decide to give such games a miss.

 

Why anyone would want to go to watch any of our clubs right now boggles the mind like, especially our games.

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