sunderland

[OpenC]

Were we on a pretty shit run going into the cup derby a couple of years ago or is that my imagination? Fully accept they hadn't signed their new team of wuld beayters at that point so not a fair comparison 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2025 by OpenC

[Wallsendmag]

53 minutes ago, ExiledGeordie said:

Everything currently suggests they’ll turn us over at theirs come Mid December. But this is a derby and things can change pretty quickly. A few wins can ramp up confidence, injuries can effect either team before then (if they lost Zhaka or Ballard for example) plus I’ll be feeling far more confident with both full backs back and Wissa as an attacking option even off the bench.

 

 

 

 

As things stand everything points to a home win. Sadly I think they'll out work and out fight us which was the foundation for their success when they beat us "6 in a row marra".

 

Add to that the rabid home crowd and they do seem to be getting a lot of breaks at the minute I just can't see us getting a positive result. 

 

Aside from that our fixtures leading up to the game don't exactly look like they'll be confidence boosting ones for us either. If there was any chance of Wissa playing we've got to throw him in as well because as things are we are far too one dimensional and easy to defend against. If you're playing a 433 like we do the middle one of the 3 forwards surely needs to be running in behind, because if he isn't you have 3 forwards who are largely ineffective as he's not doing what the 2 wide players need him to be doing so you're nullifying them as well. That's not Woltemades fault as running behind isn't his game but we do need a change of approach regardless.

 

I'd snap your hand off for a draw now put it that way. Thank god we got our derby back!

[JLC]

Premier League 90 minutes

 

They are definitely getting the breaks with regards to injury time goals.

[deejeck]

1 hour ago, OpenC said:

Were we on a pretty shit run going into the cup derby a couple of years ago or is that my imagination? Fully accept they hadn't signed their new team of wuld beayters at that point so not a fair comparison 

 

 

 

Yep, we'd lost 7 of the previous 8 games in league and cup.

[Andy]

34 minutes ago, JLC said:

Premier League 90 minutes

 

They are definitely getting the breaks with regards to injury time goals.

 

While it isn't sustainable long term, doesn't that just say they have mentality and fitness to keep going in games?

 

Given our penchant for conceding late goals, we really need to be switched on to the death against these in a few weeks. 

[TeddySAFC]

36 minutes ago, JLC said:

Premier League 90 minutes

 

They are definitely getting the breaks with regards to injury time goals.

Til' the end, marra. 

[ExiledGeordie]

1 hour ago, TeddySAFC said:

Til' the end, marra. 

😂

[Lush Vlad]

3 hours ago, JLC said:

Premier League 90 minutes

 

They are definitely getting the breaks with regards to injury time goals.

 

I think similar to Liverpool earlier in the season when they kept doing it.  It clearly isn't sustainable.  However, they were also playing shite and were lucky in most games.  From the bits and pieces I can see, sunderland are competing and playing .  Even if they are getting the rub of the green with late goals, shit keeping errors etc.

 

If you want to look at it another way, it is a bit meaningless.  You could remove goals between say 46-55 minutes and that would give you a totally different league table.  I would hazard a guess more late goals are scored due to fatigue, switching off, game state and whatever else.  But I can't say I've checked.

 

Ultimately the game is played from the first whistle to the last.  Something we have struggled with already this season.  We've dropped 2 points from Liverpool and Arsenal and conceded two howlers in stoppage time when chasing the game against Brentford and West Ham.  You can chuck in Brighton scoring in the 84th for good measure and another point dropped.  We've only managed a late goal to change things once.  Bruno against Fulham. 

 

Hopefully we've learnt our lesson before the derby........

[Choppy Chop Chop]

1 hour ago, ExiledGeordie said:

😂

Teddy still a gobshite I see 

[Scoreboard82]

I think they have Liverpool and  Man city away in the run up to the derby. Could be demoralizing hammerings. On the other hand they could be 2 spirited performances. Hard to predict this one but I believe if we play to our potential we'll be ok. 

[Paully]

They’re absolutely unbearable at the minute - don’t think they’ve talked about football for many years and I’ll hear now is ‘mind the gap’ etc.

 

They’ve had a very good start but they’ll hit a bad run and it better be in December!

 

It’s incredible to think back to that play off final and how the two clubs have faired since. No VAR in that final (which they’re shouldn’t have been) and Sheff Utd would have been 2-0 up and surely promoted - crazy what has happened to both clubs since!

[ramirez]

Part of me thinks this due to the 'arcadey' nature of football, the footballing gods have helped them catch up a bit, they were always going to come back up one day and had some good fortune.   Our success seems to have been good for them and galvanised them a bit, its also gave them something to aim for rather than just scrape survival every season.  Its also inevitable if they establish themselves and have a decent run in the premier league they will beat us at least once and they will surely never get a better chance then next month unless form changes quickly.  

[Mattoon]

It has always been the case that form and league position go out the window in a derby, no matter how they're playing you always get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomache before a derby game.

 

Same goes for this one, however they and us are doing come 14th December it won't be a game indicative of form. On paper we should win and I trust Howe to give us our best chance of doing so, but that week is going to be horrific in the build up for us supporters either way.

[ramirez]

48 minutes ago, Mattoon said:

It has always been the case that form and league position go out the window in a derby, no matter how they're playing you always get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomache before a derby game.

 

Same goes for this one, however they and us are doing come 14th December it won't be a game indicative of form. On paper we should win and I trust Howe to give us our best chance of doing so, but that week is going to be horrific in the build up for us supporters either way.

Is that not just an urban myth? We won them all under Keegan when we were flying for example, Spurs have been dominated by Arsenal the last few years, City got some hidings off Man United in the 90s too.

[Kilcline]

1 hour ago, ramirez said:

Part of me thinks this due to the 'arcadey' nature of football, the footballing gods have helped them catch up a bit, they were always going to come back up one day and had some good fortune.   Our success seems to have been good for them and galvanised them a bit, its also gave them something to aim for rather than just scrape survival every season.  Its also inevitable if they establish themselves and have a decent run in the premier league they will beat us at least once and they will surely never get a better chance then next month unless form changes quickly.  

I've long made peace with the fact that they're going to beat or take points off us at some stage and we'll miss out on the title/Champions League/Europe by those points and that's all we're going to hear about, even if they've gotten relegated in the same season. Although I'll still be fucking livid when it happens!

[Drewboy74]

4 hours ago, Paully said:

They’re absolutely unbearable at the minute - don’t think they’ve talked about football for many years and I’ll hear now is ‘mind the gap’ etc.

 

They’ve had a very good start but they’ll hit a bad run and it better be in December!

 

It’s incredible to think back to that play off final and how the two clubs have faired since. No VAR in that final (which they’re shouldn’t have been) and Sheff Utd would have been 2-0 up and surely promoted - crazy what has happened to both clubs since!

Aye its the shit banter and the fact they've said nowt for ages. Over the last few years I've never opened my mouth or bragged to the mackems I know, yet as soon as they get a result or we have a bump, me phone gans off!

[Kilcline]

8 minutes ago, Drewboy74 said:

Aye its the shit banter and the fact they've said nowt for ages. Over the last few years I've never opened my mouth or bragged to the mackems I know, yet as soon as they get a result or we have a bump, me phone gans off!

It's hilarious that we all know a mackem/mackems like this isn't it 😂 the same to a man.

 

Quite frightening aswell, a good mate of mine has never been on RTG in his life but all the shite he spouts when he starts is straight out of there, it's like there's a standard mackem playbewk/style guide they get downloaded to their brain cell.

[Wallsendmag]

1 hour ago, ramirez said:

Is that not just an urban myth? We won them all under Keegan when we were flying for example, Spurs have been dominated by Arsenal the last few years, City got some hidings off Man United in the 90s too.

 

Aye I've always thought of it as an urban myth like. As you say when we had Keegan we beat them every time and once the Bobby Robson era properly kicked in we got the better of them as well. Arsenal tend to be better than Spurs and they usually beat them, same with Liverpool and Everton. When Rangers were dominating Scottish football in the 90s they nearly always beat Celtic and now that has changed Celtic usually beat Rangers.

 

At present they have to be favourites. Well above us in the league, playing with far more guts and fight than we are, more confidence, and have home advantage.

 

However getting Tino, Hall and Wissa out on the pitch that day would make all the difference.

[Benwell Lad]

6 hours ago, Paully said:

They’re absolutely unbearable at the minute - don’t think they’ve talked about football for many years and I’ll hear now is ‘mind the gap’ etc.

 

They’ve had a very good start but they’ll hit a bad run and it better be in December!

 

It’s incredible to think back to that play off final and how the two clubs have faired since. No VAR in that final (which they’re shouldn’t have been) and Sheff Utd would have been 2-0 up and surely promoted - crazy what has happened to both clubs since!

 

Since the first play off semi final to now I don't think they've dominated a single game on stats or XG but have achieved a bizarrely consistent run of results.

Stats can be pretty meaningless over a single game or even short term, but that's a remarkable run of defying the odds and you'd think unsustainable.

They also seem to be getting away with an awful lot of fouls and cheating, almost like refs haven't picked up on them yet.

No doubt they're enjoying it for now as it just seems to keep on rolling along but there doesn't appear to be any real foundation to it.

Sheff Utd must be kicking themselves 

[madras]

2 hours ago, Mattoon said:

It has always been the case that form and league position go out the window in a derby, no matter how they're playing you always get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomache before a derby game.

 

Same goes for this one, however they and us are doing come 14th December it won't be a game indicative of form. On paper we should win and I trust Howe to give us our best chance of doing so, but that week is going to be horrific in the build up for us supporters either way.

It hasn't like. When we were the Superior team we went years without them beating us. We'll see what December brings, will we be settled and less disjointed? will they still be high on adrenaline?

[Benwell Lad]

22 hours ago, Choppy Chop Chop said:

Teddy still a gobshite I see 

 

Shame Hit Here got hounded out, seemed a canny lad and made decent points.

[SteV]

Interesting to see that their ‘greatest player in 30 years’ is currently on four yellows.

 

Absolute meltdowns if he were to get his fifth away to Man City on 6th Dec.

[OpenC]

He'll get it out the way early for exactly that reason

[et tu brute]

1 hour ago, Benwell Lad said:

 

Shame Hit Here got hounded out, seemed a canny lad and made decent points.

[et tu brute]

I've said in the Howe thread, that I firmly believe the return of Hall, Livermento, Wissa and Ramsdale; should allow for the team to be far better at ball retention, and an increased threat in attack. This team should not be intimated whatsoever by Sunderland players, as they have showed on many occasions, that they can not only manage teams playing that way, but actually bully these teams regularly. That is one aspect I would demand of this team going into the derby. Failure to do so, and it will open up massive questions amongst the fan base as that's one thing nobody will accept and rightly so. 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2025 by et tu brute