After all, Sunderland is an English Premier League team, and this season Sunderland has performed very well because of the support of the Manchester United faction. Not only did they make it to the 6th round of the FA Cup, but they are also temporarily ranked 8th in the Premier League. This season can be said to be smooth sailing.

Of course, Southampton is not bad either.

Although Southampton is still a League One team this season, it has already secured the title and the League One Cup. If it wins the English Championship, Southampton will be the triple crown winner this season.

If they can win the FA Cup and then the Community Shield, Southampton will have achieved five championships in the third-tier league.

Before the League Cup final, almost everyone thought that Southampton could not create a miracle against Tottenham, but Gu Ran did it.

Therefore, winning five championships may not necessarily be an impossible thing.

At around 2 pm, the referee team entered the venue to inspect it.

Immediately afterwards, the visiting team Southampton took to the field for the final pre-match warm-up.

When Gu Ran stood at the Stadium of Light, the fans of Southampton and Newcastle United all stood up and cheered wildly.

A few minutes later, the home team Sunderland came on the field to warm up.

There was an even louder cheer at the Stadium of Light, and the Black Cats team flag was waved wildly in the stands.

Since Sunderland's home jersey is also red and white, Southampton wore a black away jersey in this game.

At 2:45, the players from both sides finished their adaptive warm-up and returned to their respective locker rooms for their final rest.

At 2:50, players from both teams lined up in the aisle, each holding the hand of their caddy, and under the guidance of the referee, they officially entered the court and lined up to shake hands.

The captains of both teams came to the referee to toss a coin.

Southampton's captain is Davis, and Sunderland's captain is Lee Cattermole, one of the famous "Top Ten Engineers" in the Premier League and the violent card-eating king.

Davis guessed correctly and got the priority to choose the side, while Cattermole got the priority to kick off for Sunderland.

The captains of both teams exchanged team flags and shook hands with the referee.

Afterwards, players from both teams took photos in their respective half of the field.

The FA Cup is not unfamiliar to Southampton. In the history of Southampton, they have won the FA Cup once, and that was in 1976, the second year after being relegated to English League Two (the second-tier league at the time). They defeated Manchester United 1-0 and won the FA Cup.

This is also the best result of Southampton Football Club.

In addition, Southampton has never won the top league championship, only the runner-up.

Judging from this result alone, Southampton is far behind Sunderland.

Coach Adkins still sent out the full main lineup of 4231 today.

The striker is still Lallana who can retreat to play as a central midfielder.

The three forwards who were pulled apart were Chamberlain, Lambert and Schneiderlin.

The two defensive midfielders are Gu Ran and Mikel.

The four defenders are Hammond, Jaidi, Fonte and Richardson.

The goalkeeper is still captain Davis.

This configuration once reversed Tottenham and won the League Cup, so coach Adkins also trusts this formation that is both offensive and defensive.

Sunderland's head coach is none other than Steven Bruce, the famous "Black Cat Sheriff" in the UK and even in Europe.

When Steven Bruce was a player, he was definitely a top-notch star.

As a player, Steven Bruce has won the English top league championship three times. He has played for Norwich, Manchester United, Birmingham and other teams.

Bruce's leadership ability was demonstrated when he was a player. After Bryan Robson retired, he wore the captain's armband of the Red Devils Manchester United, and his leadership was evident.

Due to his friendly relationship with Manchester United, he also obtained a lot of Manchester United player resources when he coached Sunderland.

Therefore, when Steven Bruce coached Sunderland, the record was also very impressive.

But in reality...Steven Bruce's coaching ability is just so-so.

Without the added resources of Manchester United, Steven Bruce's tactical shortcomings became very obvious.

When he left Sunderland, he accepted an invitation from Sunderland's arch-rival Newcastle United and became the head coach of the rival.

It is not uncommon for a head coach to turn to his sworn enemy. For example, Tottenham's Ray Whitehead once ran from Portsmouth to coach Southampton in a fit of anger, and then in a second fit of anger, he jumped back to Portsmouth from Southampton.

However, both Portsmouth and Southampton are very grateful to Ray, because he is really capable and he is really awesome when leading the team.

However, when "Black Cat Sheriff" Steven Bruce led Newcastle United, his results were very poor.

So much so that Magpies fans thought the fat man was a black cat undercover.

In particular, the blood debt between Newcastle and Sunderland goes far beyond football, so Newcastle people cannot accept a head coach who achieved good results in Sunderland but performed so poorly in Newcastle.

The hostility between Sunderland and Newcastle dates back to the bourgeois revolution led by Cromwell in the 17th century.

As the largest city in the northwest of England, Newcastle's locals are all loyal royalists. The nearby town of Sunderland was originally an unknown township, but because of the dividends of the Industrial Revolution, Sunderland became the largest shipbuilding base in the entire north, and the people of Sunderland quickly became rich because of industry.

Therefore, during Cromwell's bourgeois revolution, the two sides fought fiercely.

The conflict between Newcastle and Sunderland was deeply rooted 200 years before the birth of football.

This is a class struggle, more deadly than the relationship between Portsmouth and Southampton, more deadly than the rose relationship between Manchester United and Leeds United.

The mutual accusations between Portsmouth and Southampton of being scabs are actually internal conflicts within the working class.

The conflict between Manchester United and Leeds United is an internal conflict between the old lords and aristocrats between the red rose represented by Manchester United and the white rose represented by Leeds United.

But Newcastle and Sunderland have truly irreconcilable class contradictions.

During the Industrial Revolution, Newcastle residents set fire to Sunderland's shipyards several times and used explosives to cause several Sunderland mining disasters. Sunderland also organized workers to attack and loot the town of Newcastle on many occasions.

Not to mention how many Newcastle and Sunderland people died during the Industrial Revolution, just when football hooligan culture was prevalent, the number of people who died on both sides was no less than hundreds.

Sunderlanders are almost equal in number and are very fanatical.

But in the past Sunderland did not have its own train station, so every time Sunderlanders went to watch an away game, they had to first transfer to Newcastle's train station. Newcastle fans would ambush Sunderlanders at the station, preventing them from watching the game.

When Sunderland fans played against Newcastle United at home, all of them beat up Newcastle United, so much so that the English Football Association at the time once stipulated that when the two teams met at home and away, away fans were not allowed to watch the game on site. This led to the strange scene of away fans of the two teams watching the game on the big screen at their own team's home stadium.

...(End of this chapter)