All attention is on Saturday's nail-biting play-off final against Wycombe Wanderers. We spoke to our mates from The Wanderer fanzine, who are just as nervous as us...
After a gruelling season, it all comes down to one final match. How are you feeling before the big game?
Excited! Obviously there’s a bit of nerves there, but mainly I’m just happy we qualified for the playoffs and made it past the Franchise to the final. Obviously we’re massive underdogs, but that also means we’ve got nothing to lose and can go into this game with no fear. Whatever the result on Saturday, it’s been a magnificent season and I think most if not all Wycombe fans are absolutely delighted with how the club’s doing, both on and off the pitch.
Your top scorer is Sam Vokes, with 17 this season. Is he the main danger man Sunderland fans should be wary of?
I’d say so. Vokes had a bit of a slow start at Wycombe, but has just got better and better as the season’s gone on and has just signed a new deal to stay on next year. To have someone with his intelligence and experience up front has been brilliant and I still can’t quite believe he’s playing for Wycombe Wanderers. There’s also Garath McCleary alongside him, who’s also hit double figures this season and adds pace and skill to Vokes’ power and aerial ability. They’ve built up a great partnership and on their day will cause any defence problems. The big blow for Wycombe in attack is that we’re likely to be without both Anis Mehmeti and Brandon Hanlan, leaving us with limited options to call on if Vokes and McCleary aren’t getting any joy.
Josh Scowen is a player Sunderland is familiar with. How has the former black cat performed this season?
He’s been excellent and was recently voted Player of the Season. I know things didn’t work out for him at Sunderland, but he’s perfectly suited to the high energy, high tempo, pressing game at Wycombe and has really made the difference for us this season. He’s clearly improved as a player since his first spell at Adams Park and looks so much more comfortable on the ball now. I’m sure he’ll have a point to prove against Sunderland on Saturday, although we’ll need to make sure he’s not too fired up, as he can still be a bit reckless in the tackle at times.
Which Sunderland player worries you the most?
Most of them, to be honest! There are perhaps a few question marks still hanging over your defence, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Sunderland have the best attack in the division, with Stewart, Broadhead and Embleton all looking like they belong in the Championship. Our defence has been pretty solid in the last quarter of the season, so it’ll be interesting to see who comes out on top in that particular battle. Obviously there’s the boy Luke as well, who we’ll have to keep a careful eye on. It’s good to see him back from injury, but I’m hoping he has a shocker on Saturday!
VAR will be in use at Wembley on Saturday, are you happy with the news?
Personally I’m not a fan, particularly when you see fans unable to properly celebrate a goal because someone wants to watch 17 replays of it first. Maybe I’m just a dinosaur who needs to accept this stuff is probably here to stay, but I don’t like it.
We have sold out our allocation of 44,000 tickets, more than double that of you guys. Does the difference worry you at all?
Not really, because we’re used to being outnumbered! I think our players are used to it too, but I still expect us to sell around 25k for this game, so hopefully there’ll be enough of us in Wembley to make a bit of noise anyway. It should be a cracking atmosphere.
Your chairman controversially referred to Sunderland as a “team that is a Netflix show”. What was your reaction to the statement?
Okay, hopefully I can clear this one up for your readers! To answer your question, my initial reaction was one of surprise and embarrassment, because, say what you like about Wycombe, we’ve always been a humble club who treat the opposition with respect. I was also very surprised, because Rob is usually quite careful with his words and very diplomatic, even when talking about particularly thorny issues - for example, the situation with Derby County. Rob’s a lawyer and knows not to gob off, so it seemed very uncharacteristic of him. Anyway, the statement has now been amended to say ‘a club that *has* a Netflix show’, which makes more sense and I think we can safely assume that this was nothing more than a very unfortunate typo. I’m sure there will be Sunderland fans who won’t buy that and that’s up to them, but having had the pleasure of chatting to Rob a few times, I can honestly say I wouldn’t think him the kind of guy to be disrespectful of any opponent, particularly as we’re all too used to being repeatedly belittled and disrespected ourselves.
After conceding three goals in our meetings this season is there anything you want the team to do tactically to avoid a repeat?
Since February we’ve switched from a back 3 to a back 4 and this, coupled with being able to stick with a more settled defence, played a big part in our upturn in form and unbeaten run towards the end of the season. Like you, we had a few players missing for the game at Adams Park and whilst Chris Forino is an excellent prospect, he had a tough time of it up against Stewart that day, so it’ll make a difference having all our first choice defenders fit and available. We now tend to play two defensive midfielders in front of the backline as well, so we’re harder to break down than we were earlier on in the season. We made the mistake of trying to pass it around at the Stadium of Light, so I’m guessing we’ll revert to our more typical direct, physical style on Saturday.
What’s your score prediction? Who will be the goalscorers?
Sunderland are obviously clear favourites, but I can’t predict a Wembley defeat, so I’ll go for a 1-1 draw in normal time (Vokes and Broadhead) and have Wycombe winning on penalties. Best of luck on Saturday, safe travels and may the best team win!
