Sunderland fans view of the final
https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/this-isnt-a-formality.1579531/
As you will see we are not assuming that we will win and you are getting respect. Just thought it was worth sharing this as I have seen comments in a few places that we are assuming that we just have to turn up. However as you can see that is not the case.
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I disagree. Your prediction thread is full of 2-0/3-0 predictions. "Isn't a formality" as a headline comes across as particularly confident. You expect to win but have to remind everyone 'it isn't a formality'.....
https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/prediction-league-sunderland-afc-vs-wycombe-wanderers-play-off-final.1579147/
No problem with Sunderland fans thinking they'll win, why wouldn't they? They took 4 points off us in the league, are in great form and finished marginally above us in the league.
Of course we've got plenty to be confident about ourselves. I'm quite happy for us to keep the underdog tag though, as I'm sure GA is!
A lot has changed since then.
I actually think we were much better than them in a lot of the away game. The home game we were fortunate to get a draw.
The betting odds are, as always, humorous.
23/20 Sunderland
11/4 Wycombe
Fantastic odds for us in my opinion.
Football fans think the team they support might win...shock horror. I think @trevor and @Wanderers82 should write our preview...for balance like.
Suggested Headline 'We will be ****ing shit. Ainsworth gets it wrong again!'
It's all about your big players putting in big performances on the day, and taking your chances when they come. Every player reacts to pressure differently, some are brave and rise to the occasion, others can go into a shell. No one wants to make the mistake that costs the final. I'm sure that Gaz, Dobbo and The Beast will have the boys relaxed and up for it. Once they cross the white line, it's all up for grabs. Bring it on.
Yeah, we were very unlucky at their place, a bit of a freakish result
I'll call your thread and raise you another one https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/wycombe.1578513/
Full of the usual cobblers about how they are certain to win if Wycombe aren't allowed to "cheat". I appreciate that it isn't a universal opinion, though I'm delighted that enough of your fans think that and will no doubt get right on your team's back if Wycombe have the temerity to not roll over and let you get an early goal. As much as having a big crowd can be a boost on the pitch, if enough of them go into the game with the attitude many on that board and the gobbier elements of social media have, it could well work to our advantage like it always does against Plymouth who similarly whip themselves into a frenzy about us.
Exactly this. Sunderland will be under pressure from the off, while we can soak up pressure ‘all day.’
Big club= big number of morons especially on social media.
One of the benefits of being a relatively small supporter base is that loudest halfwits get known and called out pretty quickly
Weirdly there's been very little discussion about the actual game on our forum so far (nowhere near as much as the effing ticket sales anyway!).
Is that just because we have watched the team outperform expectations so frequently recently that we are just happy to leave the footy stuff to Gaz and Dobbo?
I almost started a 'LET'S TALK ABOUT THE F-ING FOOTBALL' thread last night
I think there's only @trevor and @Wanderers82 (might be the wrong number) who still profess that our management team don't know what their doing!
I think so. We all know we're going to win 2-0 (Taff 18, GMac 62) so the big discussion points are where we're sitting and how we're getting there.
Low scoring, pragmatic, penalties, hiding behind the sofa (or Wembley seats, in most cases).
The best Slumberland blog I’ve looked at was the one talking about how we (and Gaz in particular) can get inside the oppositions head - little Wycombe, limited resource, ageing squad etc… resulting in complacency. Not sure Rob permits or understands this page from the play book, but, if Slumberland swallow it and we weather the first 15 mins of crowd / adrenaline etc we have every chance and more and more chance as they get nervy and the crowd on their backs. COYB’s!
At 11/4 odds it’s worth a fiver for sure.
I have found that neither Gareth nor Dobbo respond to any of my advice on tactics, formation or team selection so I have stopped offering it. Their loss.
Typical game at Adams Park....just noisier and with more North East accents. Bring it on.
I think you’ve forgotten Bayo 94 @floyd. Plymouth 2016 revisited. He actually scored the winner from the penalty spot in the 11th minute of added time. What an amazing swan song something similar would be.
You're right about the mixed messages - what Sunderland fans might scratch their heads over is Gareth saying all that "Little Wycombe" stuff while the owner insists that we are already in the Championship.
I suppose for Wycombe fans, we know from countless interviews that Rob has stated that he has little understanding of the game, and relies heavily on Pete for football-related input, so when he makes a bold statement we just shrug and roll our eyes a bit, and carry on, because he's a decent fella, likes his fireworks and the American trash talk is a side show to be ignored. However, to the ear of your average Sunderland fan who knows little of Wycombe because we're not from their level of the footballing ecosystem, it stokes up unnecessary "pin it up in the dressing room" angst that we could do without. For the purposes of the build up, I'm quite happy to let them be in the 'they're just a tin-pot-long-ball-timewasting-no-fans club' camp... Pre-match bragging (or belittling) is for mugs. Remember when Lambert wanted Gannon to show him his medals...?
Can't call it, won't call it.
Sunderland's view will be better, on average, as most of their fans will have the sun behind them
Not just the Sun - Sky Sports too.
I know this was a punny joke, but...
I'm pleased to see that there are some balanced views being aired on that forum. It's not before time.
Over the last four years there have been far too much of the 'we've got to get back where we belong' type BS. Each club is where it belongs, and has to earn the right to get higher, if that can't be achieved then earn the right to stay at the current level.
Each league match against Sunderland is supposed to be regarded our cup final. This match has been quoted as being (in their opinion) Wycombes biggest match ever. Condescending, or what? Personally, I regard winning the league one play-off and getting to the Championship for the first time as bigger, despite the lack of fans.
"Sunderland have a massive history, Wycombe have no history." That is not only at insult to Wycombe, but to every club that has a history outside the Football League.
We get the constant barrage of anti-football, cheating bastards, time wasters etc., as if Sunderland never engage in such tactics. If there is one word not quite to their liking they act like it's blasphemy.
Then they wonder why they are seen as arrogant and entitled.
I accept that all clubs have their loudmouth dickheads whose views don't represent the majority, but Sunderland fans seem to do little to reign them in and counter their comments.
I have no idea how Saturdays match will play out, but one thing is certain, if Wycombe win then that forum will be full of excuses and bile, and very little credit to Wycombe.
It's just perspective isn't it. They look at where they've come from and think "What has happened to us? We need to get back there.", we look at where we've come from and think "Look how far we've come."
I do love the mockery of the "little Wycombe" idea, but in practically the same breath saying that we are a tinpot little club with no fans.
All in all though, fans are all going to be biased towards their own club. Much as Sunderland can provide humour for the neutral at times, I am sure from their perspective it has been a very discouraging few years. There is nothing really to mock about them wanting to be back in the top two divisions, just the attitude some fans have about the tinpot division they are in.
I once heard about a mind experiment in the UK (which could be well known for all I know and I may be butchering it) where one group of Man United fans were given a talk about how great it is being a Man United fan, while a second group of Man United fans were given a talk about how great it is to be a football fan. On their way out, a stooge in a Liverpool shirt fell over while jogging past. The group who had been conditioned to think how great it was to be a Man United fan did nothing, while the group who were conditioned to think about how great it was to be a football fan helped the fake Liverpool fan to his feet.
All of which is to say that in one sense no fan really understands a fan from another club, so it is easy to take everything the wrong way. While in another sense, we are all on a very similar journey of experiencing highs and lows, and we are more similar than we would believe.
How about a lifetime stadium ban and ten year internet ban for anyone using the word tinpot - who's with me?
What if it's in reference to the Papa John's Trophy?
I love the term tinpot.
I would be interested in it's origins. Did lower leagues used to only be able to afford tin trophies instead of silverware? Did the likes of Walsall, Northampton and Rochdale used to have to rummage around behind the sofa for bits of tin to be melted down?
I just googled it and got sucked into a discussion about the Khmer Rouge