Borini and Defoe.  Worried about those 2... Borini in general is utter garbage but always puts a shift in v us.

 

 

Cesc for a couple Assist?

Zoumaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!

Am a little surprised he's starting Cesc.

I guess Conte plans to use Cesc to pierce their defence, bag a couple of goals and then bring on Matic to shut up shop?

Defoe will be a worry and like many say Borini some how gets one over us.

 

need to hit them early and play high pressing 

Anichebe clearly injured or something like that since he's not in the squad. Happy about that, he's the kind of striker that can give anyone trouble on his day.

3 minutes ago, DaRick said:

Am a little surprised he's starting Cesc.

I guess Conte plans to use Cesc to pierce their defence, bag a couple of goals and then bring on Matic to shut up shop?

Lets hope our shop doesn't get robbed before we can shut it up.

Defoe has relied a great deal on Anichebe to give him service so I expect him to be less threatening than usual, but Borini might still be an annoyance. Overall though I'm glad he's not playing - Sunderland are clearly less effective without him. 

Edited December 14, 20169 yr by DaRick

Just now, coco said:

Lets hope our shop doesn't get robbed before we can shut it up.

I'm a bit worried about that, but admittedly that's less of a risk with Sunderland's midfield than it would be with Tottenham's or even Man City's. 

oh wow in all the zouma excitement just realized cesc starts, that's fascinating

i thought borini was injured? little twat always score against us

Lose and we are still three points ahead. Win or draw and it's prosecco and cake all the way. Today is the day to play with no fear. The best form of defence is attack......aah, but not  David Luiz please.

Not a bad team for purpose to be fair we should do well here, but deffo shows we need a quality winger/attacking mid in January or the summer 

Nice squad! If Hazard was playing instead of William it would be a lethal XI. Also am relieved that the Ivanovic rumour in the Independent was BS. COYB!

1 minute ago, DonAntonio said:

Not a bad team for purpose to be fair we should do well here, but deffo shows we need a quality winger/attacking mid in January or the summer 

Damn. i thought we already had some.

Links to watch, anyone?

Sunderland have gone with the two guys who always seem to score against us then. 

Guess that means we need a rare hat-trick from Diego to get the win tonight then. 

No Anichebe then, and no fewer than seven [natural] defenders in that side (admittedly I'm counting van Aanholt as one of those):

I would guess they're playing five at the back (Jones - Djilobodji - O'Shea - Koné - van Aanholt) with Denayer and Kirchhoff in midfield. We can probably expect to see quite a lot of the ball...

14 minutes ago, RMH said:

Also am relieved that the Ivanovic rumour in the Independent was BS. 

What was the rumour

Kone, Djilobodji, O’Shea, Jones, Denayer, Kirchhoff, Van Aanholt

thats 7 defenders, feck me

Looks like it could be a 5-2-3 for them plonks,  that or maybe a 4-5-1 with O'Shea in the middle with the other two guys you mentioned and borini and januzaj out wide with Defoe up top 

no prizes for guessing their tactics !!

Do they have a good set piece taker? Am surprised by Larsson not being a starter his delivery is very, very good. With all those big guys on the pitch we may be in for a rough night from corners and free kicks. Maybe throw ins too. Lol

Antonio interviewed just now, said Fab for Matic is rotation, Eden knock not serious. Calls Willian 'Willie'.

1 minute ago, luckywerthers said:

no prizes for guessing their tactics !!

Yup, Moyes will have been in discussion with the working committee of local bus drivers and watchmakers.

Can't help wondering if Cesc plays in the absence of Hazard to ensure we're not short on creativity.