OPPOSITION VIEW: PLYMOUTH ARGYLE

Fresh off their 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Burnley, the lads from Argyle Life are understandably apprehensive going into this one. The wind has been well and truly taken out of their sails, but they were still kind enough to chat to us about their season... even if they didn't really want to.

Bottom of the league and six points adrift, what’s been the story of your season so far?

In short... it has been a total and utter calamity. Wayne Rooney was clearly a disastrous appointment from the offset, as much as we all tried to convince ourselves otherwise.

The first month of the season saw us concede 75 shots in four games and aside that, we didn’t look remotely close to scoring. Rooney did get his first win against… who was it again? That game did prompt a brief flicker of good form but we were bought back down to earth in October with a thumping loss at Cardiff.

We’ve had losses of 4-0 (thrice), 5-0 (twice) and 6-1. This has been one long and miserable season to support the Greens, with only four league wins all season (sorry again) and the cup drama at Brentford to be proud of.

Eventually there became no option but to sack Rooney - the damage is probably already done.

What are your thoughts on new boss Miron Muslic? Is he starting to turn things around or is it more of the same, following Rooney’s stint?

It’s a tough one. As bad as Rooney was, almost all the awful performances were on the road. Muslic so far has done what many deemed impossible and actually worsened us on our own turf.

However, that being said, he clearly talks an excellent game and isn’t happy with the poor standards in the squad. I guess the analogy is Amorim at Man Utd. He’s great at diagnosing the problem, hopefully he has an idea of how to fix it. It’s going to be a long and painful route, even if all goes well.

0-5 down at half time at home to Burnley, what will the reaction be from Argyle on Saturday?

I don’t know if there will be much of one but I’m thinking that things surely can’t get much worse. We might at best frustrate you for a while but expect you’ll find a way through.

You’ve got a few players joint-top scorers with three goals but Morgan Whittaker is the stand-out name. How’s he been this season?

Whittaker is obviously a fantastic player but it’s not controversial to say that he’s been nowhere near his heights of last season. The reasons for that are numerous. Rooney hasn’t been great for him but equally it’s true to say he has to take some culpability.

Don’t worry about facing him though! He refused to play against Burnley and is now being sold, probably to those same opponents. We really are in a total shambles going into this game.

If you had to pick someone, other than Whittaker, who would you say is your best player?

Given our league position, it won’t surprise you to hear there aren’t many due for plaudits. I would say that Adam Randell, our central midfielder, was at least up to Christmas having a good season.

His stats for pass competition are impressive but all the more so given he makes more progressive passes than anyone else in the squad, and has created the most big chances (as a number six). Recently though, he looks shattered mentally and physically. He needs a spell out of the team.

Bali Mumba was rated highly as a Sunderland teenager, tell us a bit about his season…

Bali is a funny one really. In our title season out of League One, he was broadly wonderful and everyone was thrilled to see he’d come back for good the following summer.

In the time since then, his form has been at best variable. The issue is he’s a left wing back who’s been played anywhere but there, across multiple formations and systems. He’s a useful rotation/role player as a winger or even a full back but really needs to be LWB with a back three behind him to really thrive. He’s another one on poor form lately though, making a big mistake for the QPR goal.

Which Sunderland player worries you the most?

There’s an embarrassment of riches really. Quite aside from the obvious marquee signing of Le Fee, you’ve got two of the best youngsters in the league in Bellingham and Rigg (as much as he definitely dived for that penalty at Home Park).

Roberts and Isidor are also both capable of doing real damage and Patterson is one of the best keepers in the league. Le Bris has done a fine job developing your young talent and it’s a good model to follow.

Have you done any January business yet? Where do you need to strengthen?

We’ve bought in two players, both from overseas.

Michael Baidoo is a club-record attacking midfielder from the Swedish league and so far it’s fair to say he’s not set the world alight at all. Difficult to do so when the team around him is collapsing, but nonetheless he’s hardly moved off the ball and seems sluggish when he’s on it.

Tymo Puchacz has made a better start. He’s a left wing back whose end product is, yes, changeable but he is capable of getting up and down the line well and has the odd ripper in him.

Embarrassingly, we agreed a fee with Rotterdam recently for Dutch centre back Michael Eerdhuijzen but he’s turned it down due to our woeful league position. Can you tell I’m not wildly optimistic?

Dare we ask for your score prediction for the game?

3-0 loss. Rigg with one and a Le Fee brace.

Finally, where do you reckon both sides will finish this season?

Argyle rock bottom with approximately 30-35 points. Sunderland to lose in the play-off final to Burnley.