Alex will pose different test, Flanagan predicts
TOM Flanagan expects Sunderland’s clash with Crewe to be more ‘football-based’ after their weekend win at Gillingham tested their reserves of grit and determination.
Stung by their 4-0 league defeat at Portsmouth heading into the international break, the Black Cats had to come from a goal down to win 2-1 against the Gills at the Priestfield Stadium – with Flanagan heading the winner early in the second half – despite having to see out the final 25 minutes of the match with 10 men following Elliot Embleton’s red card.
It was a physical battle in Kent, but Sunderland are likely to be given more of an opportunity to play football in tonight’s game at Gresty Road.
“It will be a lot more footballbased,” predicted Flanagan.
“We will have to earn the right to play with our football but we trust our way of playing and we enjoy it, so we’re not going to go away from it.
“We proved on Saturday that we can mix it up and that we’ve got the grit and determination.
“We back ourselves if we do go behind but, of course, the plan is not to go behind!
“Hopefully the win at Gillingham is the start of another good run as we were on a good run [prior to losing at Portsmouth].
“And we’ll have blips during the season but hopefully the blip will be a draw and not a loss.
“Following on from the Portsmouth game, it could have been different because we really didn’t give a good display [at Fratton Park] but we put a couple of bogeys to rest and we move on now.
“It was the polar opposite to two weeks ago at Portsmouth in that we kept doing the right things and mixing up our play.”
Personnel-wise, Sunderland’s options were limited at Gillingham with Aiden McGeady, Leon Dajaku, Lynden Gooch, Nathan Broadhead, Niall Huggins, Corry Evans, and Frederik Alves, all absent through injury.
Of those, Lee Johnson said that McGeady was 50-50 for the Crewe game, Gooch was 70-30 against, while Dajaku would have to be assessed further after reporting back from international duty with Germany U20s with a thigh problem, and Alves had a minor glute strain.
Broadhead, Huggins, and Evans will definitely miss out again tonight, and Sunderland will also be without Embleton who starts a three-game suspension following his red card.
But Johnson’s faith in youngsters has been repaid in Sunderland’s EFL Trophy games recently, and if he turns to a player such as Stephen Wearne, the 20-year-old will have earned his chance.
Flanagan said: “We have a really good balance in regards to age. Footballers are getting fitter and more clever. Footballers will play for longer and they also start younger.
“I remember when I was 17 or 18 and looking for a loan move and everyone was saying that I was 10 years too young.
“Now, everyone is looking for an 18-year-old, so it has gone full circle but I think it is really good for them to learn off us and we’re learning off them.
“They’re bringing something new. They are bringing energy and I think they liven the dressing room up which is really good. They’re not in charge of music though – they have to earn that right!”