Tony Mowbray is wary of Neil Warnock's possession trap - warning Sunderland must not let Huddersfield Town to lull them into a false sense of security by allowing them to dominate the ball tomorrow night. Mowbray's play-off chasing Black Cats take on Warnock's relegation-battling Terriers at the Stadium of Light, with both teams needing points to help their respective causes at either end of the Championship table.
Huddersfield have dragged themselves out of the relegation zone and a point clear of the bottom three after collecting 11 points from their last six games - with those points all won against play-off contenders, before their weekend defeat against Swansea City. Town have been happy to give up possession and hit teams on the transition.
They beat high-flying Middlesbrough 4-2 despite having just 24 percent possession, beat Watford 3-2 with 25 percent of the ball, Millwall 1-0 (29 percent), and earned a 2-2 draw against Blackburn Rovers with just 19 percent possession, and a 1-1 against Norwich City (33 percent). "I've watched their last four or five games and their average percentage of possession has been in the low 20s - some games have been as low as 20, some up to 28 - but generally 25 or 23 percent," said Mowbray.
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"They are not really interested in possession of the ball, but they make life really difficult for you, they break away and they are very good in transition when they win it. I watched Huddersfield's televised game against Blackburn Rovers - a team I know very well - and I think Blackburn had 81 percent possession over the course of the game and yet they were 2-0 after 20 minutes.
"What I'm trying to say is that they are a dangerous team, you have to take care of the ball and put it into areas that make them defend, but be very wary of their athleticism and cuteness when you do give the ball away because they get lots of men forward pretty quickly. They play with you, really, because they lull you into a sense of security because they let you have the ball and feel comfortable and then, bang, before you know it they hit you on the break.
"They are good on set-plays, they're dangerous. I anticipate that we will have quite a bit of the ball but Neil's team is happy for you to do that.
"We have to make sure that we're not lazy when we lose the ball, we have to track their runners because they mark you man for man all over the pitch. The challenge for us, with the players we've got, is to break them down."
Former Boro boss Warnock is a manager Mowbray knows well, with the pair having managed against each other frequently over the years. He said: "Neil is very experienced. We've probably all seen the videos of a young Neil Warnock at Sheffield United many years ago and the emotion he brings to his football teams.
"Having managed against him quite a lot over recent years on the touchline, he brings it very much to matchdays - it's quite an experience, to be honest! What you have to love about Neil is his emotion and his passion for his football team.
"He is desperate to win every game, and we expect nothing different tomorrow - a fully-committed Huddersfield Town team fighting for points to pull themselves further away from the bottom three. For us, we have our own ambition now, so for different reasons we will both be giving it everything we've got."
Sunderland go into the game looking to follow their back-to-back wins at Cardiff City and at home to Birmingham City with a third successive victory to keep their play-off push going. The Black Cats are ninth in the table and just two points outside the top six with four games remaining.
Mowbray said: "We want to keep it interesting for the fans and for the players as well. I hope the supporters are enjoying the chase and the challenge of it.
"It would be nice tomorrow night to keep that excitement going into the last three games, and when we get round to the West Bromwich Albion press conference we are still trying to keep it going. Then Watford, and then let's hope we have a big last day at Preston and we are going there knowing that a result will confirm that we can finish where we would like to.
"I think that will be really tough, though. The three teams that I've just mentioned there - West Brom, Watford, and Preston - are all fighting with us to try and get into that top six, so they are going to be interesting games.
"We have to try and get a positive result [against Huddersfield] because we are on the cusp of it - one really bad result can curtail all your ambitions, I suppose. If we can keep it going tomorrow night, we'll head into the weekend and see if we can keep it going right to the death."
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