Sunderland Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[chrissivad]

Banner by chrissivad​

Sunderland 1 - 2 Spurs
Johnson Paulinho O'Shea (og)
​

Spurs: Lloris; Walker, Capoue, Dawson, Naughton; Dembele (Sandro), Paulinho; Lennon, Holtby (Townsend), Chadli (Sigurdsson); Defoe.
Subs: Friedel, Fryers, Lamela, Soldado.

Sunderland: Mannone, Bardsley, Celustka, O'Shea (C), Brown, Ki, Colback, Larsson, Johnson, Fletcher, Altidore
Subs: Dossena, Gardner, Pickford, Diakite, Giaccherini, Borini, Cattermole.

Ref: Mark Lee Mason (Matches this season: 2-0 Norwich)

BBC Live Text
19:11 SUBSTITUTION - Sunderland 1-2 Tottenham
Tottenham's bench is pretty impressive if they can bring on players like Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Icelandic midfielder replaces Nacer Chadli as we enter the final six minutes.
19:05 SUBSTITUTION - Sunderland 1-2 Tottenham
Time for another Spurs change - Andros Townsend replacing Lewis Holtby. The England winger needs a good showing here because Aaron Lennon has enjoyed another excellent game.
19:01 SUBSTITUTION - Sunderland 1-2 Tottenham
Just 18 minutes left on the clock as Mousa Dembele hobbles off looking double his age, to be replaced by Sandro. No being sick on the pitch today, Sandro.
18:37 GOAL - Sunderland 1-2 Tottenham - John O'Shea own goal (50 mins)
It's the day of the own goals. That's the fourth of the afternoon in the Premier League! It comes about when Mousa Dembele bursts down the right and puts the ball into the dangerzone where John O'Shea is on hand to poke past his own keeper. Oh dear.
HALF-TIME - Sunderland 1-1 Tottenham
Half-time then at the Stadium of Light. This match has just ignited - we should be set for a decent second half.
18:13 GOAL - Sunderland 1-1 Tottenham - Paulinho (43 mins)
That's the perfect response from Tottenham. A deep free-kick is helped back into the box by Nacer Chadli and Paulinho shows a striker's instinct to stab home in the six-yard box. Where were the Sunderland defenders?
18:07 GOAL - Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham - Adam Johnson
Another game, another goalkeeping mistake. Sunderland's Adam Johnson is the man to profit this time as Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris palms Ondrej Celustka's simple cross straight into his path at the far post. The ex-Manchester City man makes no mistake as he takes one touch and buries the ball into the back of the net.
[prebreak][/prebreak]

 

[chrissivad]

Sunderland Vs Tottenham
Premier League
Venue: Stadium of Light Date: Saturday 7th December Kick Off: 17:30​

For more on live coverage please visit Geez's Live Media Thread​

[float_right]

[/float_right]
Sunderland welcome Tottenham to the Stadium of Light looking to climb off the bottom of the Premier League table.

Sunderland will be encouraged by their display in the 4-3 defeat to Chelsea after running Jose Mourinho's men all the way at the Stadium of Light.


The defeat to Chelsea was Gus Poyet's first at home after helping mastermind wins over Newcastle and Manchester City since replacing Paolo Di Canio.

Sunderland have conceded 14 goals at home, the worst in the Premier League, and Poyet will know he will have to shore up his backline if they are to climb clear of trouble.

Tottenham on the other hand have scored only six goals away from home this term, but still have one of the league's strongest away records having picked up 13 points on their travels.

The midweek victory over Fulham eased the pressure on Andre Villas-Boas and got their top-four challenge back on track.

Tottenham are just three points off fourth spot and they boast a good record against Sunderland having won four and lost none of the last six Premier League meetings.

Tottenham
Jan Vertonghen "rolled" his ankle in Wednesday's 2-1 victory at Fulham and manager Andre Villas-Boas has admitted the defender is a doubt for Saturday's match at Sunderland.

Mousa Dembele's ongoing hip complaint ruled him out of the Fulham clash at the last minute, but after resting he could come back into contention.

Full-back Danny Rose has made a tentative return to training, but is not yet ready for a playing comeback, while Christian Eriksen remains sidelined.


Fulham
Jozy Altidore is expected to keep his place in the starting line-up after impressing in midweek against Chelsea.

It means Steven Fletcher is likely to have to content himself with a place on the bench again, while Adam Johnson will be pushing for a recall after appearing as a substitute against Chelsea.

Gus Poyet has no fresh injury concerns from the game, but he will still be without injured goalkeeper Keiren Westwood (shoulder) and defender Carlos Cuellar (hip).

Sunderland head coach Gus Poyet remains without Keiren Westwood and Carlos Cuellar.

Goalkeeper Westwood has a shoulder injury while Cuellar is still troubled by a hip complaint.

Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen rolled his ankle against Fulham and is a doubt.

Mousa Dembele missed that match with a hip injury and faces a fitness test, while Danny Rose is not yet ready for a first-team return.

For the second time in four days Gus Poyet faces one of his former clubs, hoping for a more sedate affair than the seven-goal thriller against Chelsea and a more positive Sunderland outcome.

After this encounter, three of their remaining four matches this year are away from home and picking up points at the Stadium of Light is going to be pivotal in the survival battle.

They begin the weekend five points from safety and will be well aware that they cannot afford to be cut adrift over the festive and New Year period. It's a big challenge ahead for a team that have won only four times in their last 29 league matches.

There's no doubt that Poyet has given them renewed spirit and togetherness, as was shown by coming back at Chelsea in the week, but they need more defensive stability having kept only two clean sheets and conceded 28 goals.

They are hardly facing one of the league's most prolific sides. Tottenham's two late and most welcome goals to beat Fulham in midweek only took their season tally to 13, the same number that Luis Suarez has scored alone.

It's an area that will need rectifying as the season goes on if Spurs are going to break into the top four.

The response after the thrashing at Manchester City has been both encouraging and much needed for Andre Villas-Boas. He won't need reminding of the importance of some consistency ahead though - the win at Fulham was their first in five games and just their third in nine matches.

They have won more games away than at White Hart Lane but will be wary of what happened to Manchester City recently on Wearside, Sunderland will be dreaming of an exact repeat.

Head-to-head

• Spurs have not lost to Sunderland in their last six Premier League matches, with the Black Cats scoring just three goals.
• In 12 Premier League trips to Wearside, Tottenham have won more times (five) than they have lost (four). They are unbeaten in their last three visits.

Sunderland

• Sunderland have scored four own goals this season, at least two more than any other side.
• The Black Cats have had just 33 shots on target this season - the lowest tally in the top flight.
• They have lost a league-high eight points from winning positions this season.

Tottenham

• Tottenham are one of only two teams (along with Newcastle) yet to score more than twice in a Premier League game this season.
• They have lost just two of their last eight Premier League away matches.
• Spurs are one of only two sides in the top half of the table to have a minus goal difference.

__________________________________________________________________

Match Day Chatroom​

Links to live streams are not permitted.
do not keep asking for them. Doing so could result in a ban.

Spurscommunity is not responsible for any links to live streams and all such links will be deleted.​

 

[chrissivad]

*#*#*#*# Spurs Community RULES #*#*#*#*

Swearing

This site does not condone swearing for swearings sake just as in most situations in life. Swearing does not contribute greatly to a conversation and is not encouraged on this site.

Just because a word is not on the automatic censor list does not mean that it's allowable. Furthermore, anyone found to be deliberately evading the censor list will receive an automatic 24 hour ban. The censor is set up specifically to remove use of the C word. If you feel the need to use this word replace it with ****. Any attempt at getting around this will result in a ban.

We take particular note of members who persistently use swearing in their posts and any such member will receive a formal warning as a result. Using swearwords in topic titles is not permitted under any circumstances.

Member Abuse

Spurs Community holds personal abuse aimed at other members or group of members as a serious lack of respect and as such anyone found guilty of abuse will receive a formal warning as a result and a 24 hour (or longer) ban if staff believe the offence warrants it. If you are having regular differences with one particular member and find it difficult to avoid arguments with them, you can click to ignore that poster, and you will no longer have to read their posts.

 

[Kiedis]

Walker looks absolutely insane in that picture.
Loving it.

 

[alfiespurs]

This is going to be a real battle - Sunderland are not roll overs, they beat City and gave Chavs a real run for their money. I am really worried about Dawson - he has become bit of a liability ( don't get me wrong - love the guy). I really do hope ADE is brought back... But lets see - not convinced with the way we play these days - never know which Spurs turns up - Anyway CoYS

 

[Macspur261]

I can see this being another lively game to watch, Sunderland will be fighting hard for the points, but then so will we, I think we'll match them, then beat them.
Sunderland 1-2 Spurs

 

[JaySpur]

This is going to be a real battle - Sunderland are not roll overs, they beat City and gave Chavs a real run for their money.

To be fair, the way Chelsea defended for each of those set piece goals was pretty bad (not that we're any better) but that was a massive contribution to Sunderland scoring at all in that game from the little I've seen of it on MOTD. I think the scoreline flattered them

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Didn't realise this was on Sky... NICE!

Hoping for a win but can see us drawing this one, we won't lose though. We got a decent record there recently.

 

[Scottish Spur]

I expect us to win here. Please drop Dawson and Defoe. Leave Townsend on the bench as well. Start Holtby with Paulinho alongside Sandro or Capoue deeper in midfield.

Lloris

Walker
Chiriches
Kaboul (is he fit ??)
Naughton

Paulinho/Dembele
Capoue/Sandro
Holtby

Lamela
Lennon
Soldado

 

[felmani26]

Well, question marks all over the place bar Lloris.

With Verts now confirmed out, it will be interesting to see what Andre does at the back. Will he merely replace Jan with Naughton and keep the rest the same or perhaps shift Chiriches over and bring in Kaboul?

Personally, I would bring Fryers in who at least is a natural left back and bring Kaboul in to partner Kiri and yes, that means dropping Captain not-so-fantastic.

If it's a midfield trio then it's surely Sandro and Paulinho, with the last place presumably between the more defensively aware and composed Capoue or the enthusiastic Holtby. Truth be told, Holtby has really struggled to find his niche in our system and bar the odd glimpses, I haven't really been impressed with his contribution although granted, his Spurs career has been very much stop start.

Front three, well I'd certainly like to see Ade back. Why? Because he's by far the best striker we have to operate our system effectively and whilst as a footballer Soldado is ahead of Defoe, they are both too blunt and unless we change system then I find their roles redundant as a starting striker.

Wide, I'd like Lamela to have a run of games to get his confidence up as let's face it, we need a player like him as part of our future - we didn't spend £30million for nothing so give him the game time and I'm sure will come good or at least offering us something our other wide men can't.

Other side, meh, you could pick out of hat really on the left with Lennon, Townsend, Chadli or Siggy - I'd go with Chadli for balance but really, it could feasibly be any of them.

Sunderland have played with a lot more vigour lately and we will need to get stuck in if we eventually want to assert ourselves on this match. Don't think Andre can afford to adopt the same approach as the Fulham game but that doesn't mean we should make it an open affair either. Maybe this is a game where we can cede some possession on the basis we look to break at pace but it will be interesting to see what we do.

 

[dontcallme]

Sunderland have looked a bit better recently and they are fighting harder. Other than a home win against Man City this has not translated into results though.

We are stronger than them in all areas and we need a win ourselves.

 

[Mr Pink]

We match their effort and desire and our quality will prevail.

Dembele had better be back for this though - if he is, I'm confident even without Vertonghen.

 

[felmani26]

Sunderland have looked a bit better recently and they are fighting harder. Other than a home win against Man City this has not translated into results though.

We are stronger than them in all areas and we need a win ourselves.

Hopefully their mid week exploits against Chelsea have taken a bit out of them but despite their position, I certainly don't expect this to be a walk in the park.

We'd all like a nice performance from the boys but it's the result that counts here and I'll take a shitty 1-0 win all day every day.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Apparentely Dembele is fit for tommorow

 

[Mr Pink]

Apparentely Dembele is fit for tommorow

Where you hear this? Or you just assuming he is because AVB didn't mention him in terms of ruling him out?

Big plus if he's fit IMO.

 

[THFC 1882]

Tottenham HotspurVerifisert konto
@SpursOfficial
Michael Dawson is unbeaten in 7 Premier League appearances for Spurs against Sunderland (won last five) #THFC

 

[kr1978]

Tottenham HotspurVerifisert konto
@SpursOfficial
Michael Dawson is unbeaten in 7 Premier League appearances for Spurs against Sunderland (won last five) #THFC

Let's hope he makes it 8 then

Verts is a huge loss and hoping fryers might get a shot instead of naughton at lb

 

[Mr Pink]

Think it will be....Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vlad, Naughton, Sandro, Dembele, Lennon, Paulinho, Lamela, Soldado.

If I were betting, that'll be the team.

 

[kr1978]

Think it will be....Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vlad, Naughton, Sandro, Dembele, Lennon, Paulinho, Lamela, Soldado.

If I were betting, that'll be the team.

Would be happy with that - although would prefer fryers to naughton I think.

 

[Mr Pink]

Would be happy with that - although would prefer fryers to naughton I think.

Maybe Chadli on the left to protect Naughton a little and either Lamela or Lennon on the right.