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| Ben Mee - set for first Turf Moor appearance |
The Burnley squad is, at the time of writing, considerably smaller than it was back in May. Steven Thompson went alongside Kevin McDonald and the unforgettable Remco van der Schaaf, and in the last month we've also said goodbye to Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Chris Iwelumo and Owen Coyle's love children Chris Eagles and Tyrone Mears.
This is traditionally the game when the home fans come out to see the new signings, but we've almost gone back to the days of the 1960s when transfers were rare. No permanent signings have been made, although chairman Barry Kilby suggested on Thursday that there could have been yesterday, so we will be there to take a look at the two loanees Ben Mee and Kieran Trippier who have already won plaudits in the Championship for their performances at Leicester and Barnsley respectively.
If we continue with our usual tradition then the players could have their new shirts on tomorrow, squad numbers and all, so some might be surprised if a certain Amougou plays in defence.
t caught me out initially yesterday until I spotted the Andre and the lack of a Bikey anywhere on the squad list. He's opted to use his family name so please accept my apologies if you see the name Bikey appearing in the match reports in the first few weeks of the season.
Will there be any clues in Eddie Howe's starting line up? A year ago Brian Laws said ahead of the last friendly against Stoke: "People will read into this last game and I can't stop speculation, even among the players, as to who will start. They will know next week. It's still all to play for."
That might have been the case but ten of the players who started that Stoke game were there for kick off a week later against Nottingham Forest, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see something similar now.
Howe rested a number of his players on Tuesday with Brian Jensen, Ben Mee, David Edgar, Andre Amougou (then Bikey), Dean Marney, Chris McCann and Jay Rodriguez all having a watching brief, but today I expect to see some of them on the pitch.
We all have our own ideas as to what the team might be next week, I certainly have mine, so I'll eagerly await the news of the starting line up tomorrow.
The team, unless there is a late signing, will be selected from: Brian Jensen, Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Kevin Long, David Edgar, Andre Amougou, Michael Duff, Ben Mee, Danny Fox, Brian Easton, Dean Marney, Marvin Bartley, Steven Hewitt, Chris McCann, Wade Elliott, Alex MacDonald, Ross Wallace, Jay Rodriguez, Martin Paterson, Charlie Austin and Wes Fletcher.
If we've not made many changes to our squad then today's visitors Sunderland certainly have. Sunderland received £18m for Darren Bent last January when he signed for Aston Villa and got a similar amount in June from Liverpool for the signature of Jordan Henderson.
That's certainly allowed Bruce to ring the changes. Last season's loan signing Ahmed Elmohamady was given a permanent deal and the next to arrive was Sebastian Larsson, a player Bruce had taken to Birmingham from Arsenal.
Then came no less than another seven signings within the next nine days. They spent heavily on Ipswich teenager Connor Wickham, signed South Korean Ji Dong-Won before going to Birmingham again, this time for Craig Gardner.
Coventry goalkeeper Keiren Westwood was next before Manchester United duo Wes Brown and John O'Shea were signed, and then finally Blackpool's player of the season in the Premier League David Vaughan.
Only one of those players, John O'Shea is ruled out tomorrow but Sunderland will still be without long term injury victims Craig Gordon, David Meyler and Fraizer Campbell.
Brown, Asamoah Gyan and Westwood have all missed games but all played in their last game at Kilmarnock. They are all fit and late decisions will be made on central defenders Titus Bramble and Michael Turner, who watched Burnley at Middlesbrough last season from the away end.
Sunderland's firs team squad is
Goalkeepers: Craig Gordon, Simon Mignolet, Keiren Westwood
Defenders: Blair Adams, Marcos Angeleri, Phil Bardsley, Titus Bramble, Wes Brown, Anton Ferdinand, Louis Laing, John O'Shea, Kieran Richardson, Michael Turner
Midfielders: Lee Cattermole, Jack Colback, Jordan Cook, Ahmed Elmohamady, Craig Gardner, Billy Knott, Sebastian Larsson, Steed Malbranque, David Meyler, Stephane Sessengnon, David Vaughan
Forwards: Fraizer Campbell, Asamoah Gyan, Ji Dong-Won, Craig Lynch, Ryan Noble, Connor Wickham
Looking Back
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| Mitchell Thomas - caught the eye |
It's 12 years since the two clubs last met in a pre-season friendly. Sunderland had just won promotion to the Premier League along with Bradford City and Watford whilst Burnley were a year away from a promotion to what is now the Championship.
The game was played on a Sunday at Turf Moor with the police forcing a lunch time kick off for a game that attracted 6,400 spectators. The two managers, Stan Ternent and Peter Reid, were both very positive about the game but in truth it was a bit of a non-event.
"A smashing work out for us against a very impressive Sunderland side," Stan said. "We will benefit from that and I thought we did okay. They pass and move so well and there were lessons there for us to take."
Reid was equally pleased and added: "We looked fit and sharp and I am happy with how things are at this stage. Kevin Phillips is a great finisher and a very intelligent player. He made them pay for falling asleep, but Burnley competed well to make it a good build up match for us."
The game was played on a very hot day and Burnley struggled to get anything like enough possession. Sunderland passed the ball around well and it came as no surprise when they went in front just past the half hour.
A deflection off Tom Cowan saw the ball land at Gavin McCann's left foot and he made no mistake with a classy left foot finish.
Good saves from Paul Crichton kept it to 1-0 but the introduction of Glen Little at the start of the second half improved things for Burnley. He gave Michael Gray a difficult time.
Alan Lee, Stephen Grant and Steve Davis all went close but nine minutes from time Phillips doubled Sunderland's lead. A long clearance from Thomas Helmer caught out the Burnley defence and Phillips got to the ball before going on a 40-yard run and hitting his shot in off the post to complete the scoring.
Burnley's team included five new signings in Dean West, Mitchell Thomas, Stephen Grant, John Mullin and Alan Lee but the one who caught the eye was Thomas with an assured performance in the left central defensive role.
The teams were;
Burnley: Paul Crichton, Dean West (Mark Robertson 70), Steve Davis, Gordon Armstrong (Glen Little 45), Mitchell Thomas, Tom Cowan (Paul Smith 68), John Mullin (Micky Mellon 80), Micky Mellon (Ronnie Jepson 68), Lenny Johnrose (Paul Cook 45), Andy Cooke (Alan Lee 45), Andy Payton (Graham Branch 45, Stephen Grant 75).
Sunderland: Thomas Sorensen, Darren Holloway, Thomas Helmer, Paul Butler (Jody Craddock 59), Michael Gray, Neil Wainwright, Alex Rae (Kevin Ball 70), Darren Williams, Gavin McCann, Kevin Phillips, Chris Lumsden. Subs not used: Andy Marriott, Steve Bould, Chris Makin, Nicky Summerbee, Carsten Fredgaard, Niall Quinn.
Referee: Chris Foy (St. Helens).
Attendance: 6,400.