Sunderland v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[VillaAlways]

Delph??? No....

Not much choice with KEA suspended

[tomd2103]

Should Lambert stick to the diamond formation (I personally wouldn't) and taking into account that Baker, Clark and Herd are all missing, I can see something along the lines of:

                 Guzan

Lichaj   Vlaar  Lowton  Bennett

                 Delph

        Holman        Bannan

                Ireland

        Benteke    Gabby


Edit:  Looking at that team again, I've got a bad feeling that Sunderland could well buck their trend of struggling to score and inflict a fairly heavy defeat on us. 

[pedro25]

With KEA out it has to be the line up as above I guess, i just hope he's not tempted to play Albrighton over Bannan or Ireland. Gabby could play wide left and Holman wide right to give some more width and cover centrally if needed.  We'd still have a decent bench with a few options there, something like Given, Bent, Weimann, Albrighton, Westwood, Stevens, Bowery or Burke.

[The Left Side]

2-0 to them, MON will do anything to win this one.

[Damo70]

Should Lambert stick to the diamond formation (I personally wouldn't) and taking into account that Baker, Clark and Herd are all missing, I can see something along the lines of:

                 Guzan

Lichaj   Vlaar  Lowton  Bennett

                 Delph

        Homan        Bannan

                Ireland

        Benteke    Gabby


Edit:  Looking at that team again, I've got a bad feeling that Sunderland could well buck their trend of struggling to score and inflict a fairly heavy defeat on us.

The only two possible variations on that eleven I could imagine would be giving Westwood a debut and/or playing Bent for the 'old club' factor.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

2-0 to them, MON will do anything to win this one.

Anything...Anything at all?
Like what ?

[tomd2103]

2-0 to them, MON will do anything to win this one.

Anything...Anything at all?
Like what ?

Play players in their proper positions?

[Irish villain]

2-0 to them, MON will do anything to win this one.

That's what I thought the last time we played them but we got a draw! Lambert will want to win this too.

[Clampy]

I see they've moved the away fans to the top tier at the opposite end of the ground. MON got the away fans moved at VP and it look like he's done it again. Shame really, it was a good view behind that goal.

[eastie]

I see they've moved the away fans to the top tier at the opposite end of the ground. MON got the away fans moved at VP and it look like he's done it again. Shame really, it was a good view behind that goal.

Yes, Niall Quinn confirmed it was done at mons request.

[damon loves JT]

2-0 to them, MON will do anything to win this one.

Anything...Anything at all?
Like what ?

Play players in their proper positions?

OK, maybe not *anything*

[PaulTheVillan]

A full back to go off on 85 minutes for a striker to come on.

For Sunderland that is.

[Matt C]

I wonder if the seemingly random decision to put Benteke out on the wing for a stint on Tuesday might have been to see whether it might work with he and Gabby wide of Bent.

[Matt Collins]

I wonder how many more times someone will say "I'd play kea, not delph" to be told he's suspended, before Saturday?

[Matt C]

Why didn't Barry take the penalty?