Whenever we remember to do it, Salut! Sunderland likes to offer a summary of the week just gone by. Most readers know by now that there is usually plenty more than is flagged here. Have a look up and down the sidebars for links to other material you may have missed …
Drawing at home to Aston Villa felt like a victory to some, given our late second equaliser, and two dropped points to others, who felt we had been comfortably held by an average side.
After the points squandered against West Brom in the previous home game, it was not the ideal result to set us up for Old Trafford today even if it stretched our very mini unbeaten run to three.
Pete Sixsmith’s magisterial account of the game – click here – was followed by a reminder that cheating in football is by no means restricted, as xenophobes like to believe, to foreigners. Unless you somehow work out that being born in Erdington, Birmingham to Nigerian and Scottish parents makes Gabriel Agbonlahor any more than being called Gabriel makes him angelic.
It inspired a small competition in which Salut! Sunderland readers were invited to name the firework that felled Agbonlahor to earn him a free kick, after little or no contact from Larsson, from which Dunne headed Villa 2-1 in front.
Malcolm Dawson won a mug for his suggestions: Shot Cake and Fallen Angel. He insisted the first was a real firework, as was Fury “which makes a huge whining noise”. Let us know if you come across anything even more apt tonight – but if you want the mug, you’ll have to pay for it …
Click here: £9.50, post-free for UK buyers, from the Salut! Sunderland ShopThen came one of those pieces that makes running Salut! Sunderland worthwhile.
Jeremy Robson rose to his feet to applaud Doncaster’s Billy Sharp for the goal celebration that honoured his newborn son Louie, who had died a few days earlier; M Salut added a word of praise for the ref, Darren Deadman, for not booking him when he raised his shirt to reveal a t-shirt with the slogan “That’s for you son.”
Jeremy added a fair number of unflattering words about John Terry, his harsh assessment of the man owing nothing to the truth or otherwise of allegations that he racially abused Anton Ferdinand. See it here.
After which it was time to think about today’s game away to Man Utd. Just about everyone expects us to lose, not least our United-supporting Canadian “Who are You?” contributor, David Tack. His fascinating appraisal of Sir Alex, United past and present and Sunderland AFC’s role as a retirement home for Old Trafford cast-offs can be read in full by clicking here.
Pete Sixsmith can always be relied upon to come up with something a little different. His account of Sunderland’s last victory at Old Trafford required an astonishingly long memory but proved priceless; it came, eventually, complete with a YouTube clip. Have a look. Kenneth Wolstenhome’s condescension alone makes the clip a must-see.
Forget United 1 City 6. They were saving themselves for us. Some big performances are needed out on the pitch today. Ha’way the lads …
