This is where Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday experience. When, rarely, Pete is absent or delayed, a supersub does it for him and the seven-word verdict is preceded by an asterisk. Pete’s full analysis of the game will usually appear within a day or two.
We like giving West Brom two start. Pete said as the second went in that we were not at that stage “in with a shout”, and the fact is we were fortunate not to be further behind at half time. That state of affairs lasted no time once we began the second half – brightly enough, with two forwards, Campbell and Bendtner on (there’s a novelty) – and gave away a cheap third goal. “Not a great afternoon,” Pete texted wearily.
He will have plenty to say over the next 36 hours; Martin O’Neill’s verdict on the first thumping suffered all season will come rather sooner. “West Brom can score whenever they want to,” Gary Bennett moaned on BBC Radio Newcastle as he watched a rather different performance to last week’s triumph over Arsenal. “We’re a shambles … you can easily see this being five or six … it’s embarrassing.”
It reached an embarrassing 4-0. We would have settled for a WBA declaration at half time.
The full Sixer’s Sevens archive – see link below – sums up what all Sunderland supporters feel, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, in the words of one who is usually there …
Feb 25 2012 West Bromwich Albion (2) 4 SAFC (0) 0 Baggies better by far as bubble bursts
Feb 18 2012 FA CUP 5th round: SAFC (1) 2 Arsenal (0) A wonderfully gritty performance brings deserved victory
Feb 11 2012 SAFC (0) 1 Arsenal (0) 2 Played well but undone by goalkeeping errors
Feb 8 2012 FA Cup 4th round replay: Middlesbrough (0) 1 SAFC (1) 2 Quality came through in rousing cup tie
Feb 4 2012 Stoke City (0) 0 SAFC (0) 1 *McClean clincher makes winter seem less bleak or (Sixer’s delayed verdict) bêtes noires beaten in Artic type conditions
Feb 1 2012 SAFC (2) 3 Norwich City (0) 0 An absolute stroll as Canaries brushed aside
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To see Sixer’s Sevens in full, click here. If an asterisk precedes the comment, the words that follow are the work of someone else because Pete is for once absent from the game or his verdict has been delayed …
The players apparently need a rest which a lot of them won’t get due to international call ups. Looking forward to mass withdrawals today/tomorrow.
I suppose the positive is that it happened now and not next week, unlike last season! I’m going to be honest and say I’d have slated Bruce for going with the same team when a few have looked like needing a rest for weeks, Martin got it wrong I’m afraid; Bendtner should come back in next week and maybe Campbell for Larsson for me. Back to my first point, the kick up the backside has come just in time.
Don’t underestimate West Brom’s performance. They were very good today – as good as we were poor.
Stuff happens.
Yes, but that is exactly my point, we were very poor and gave WBA all the time and space they needed for four chances to put the ball in the back of the net(plus a few more), regardless of how well those chances were taken.
WBA had players apparently mesmerising ours with twists and turns and basically outfighting us. However they are still a very ordinary team who man for man, this performance being the exception, can not match us us in endevour, effort and passion.
That just underlines how very poor we were. Out of our last few performances today was a complete turnaround, Migolets continuing very poor distribution was the only consisten item from this performance.
Hope this isn’t in the wake of Niall going. Obviously a number of players have expressed personal regret at his going and MON made a rather ambiguous statement about it, which sounded as if he had expected him to stay-I may be wrong. Obviously the set-up with Niall was part of what attracted MON here, one assumes. The announcement may have unsettled things a bit this week.
It may not be that at all of course, and just a bad day at the office. Hope for MUCH better things next week.
Well Martin said there would be days like this, when the whols side decides to have an off day this is what happens, we made a very ordinary West Brom look good.
Still, hopefully that is our poorest performance of the season out of the way with so we can look forward to the rest of the season.
When you try to think of the right word for our performance, and fail, sometimes only ‘shite’ will do. And that was it.
Onwards to Ashley’s Sports Direct Arena (ASDA). Take a trolley with you.
Long-overDUE spanking. Sorry, I was blinking away a tear. Just one.
I KNEW we should never have dumped poor Steve Bruce! O’Neill must GO!!!
Seriously, this is, as you say, our first thumping – of the season or since MON took over? Doesn’t matter; everyone gets thrashed once in a while and West Brom came into this game with everything going for them.
So we put it down to experience, learn a couple of lessons perhaps and move on. To Sid James Park, or whatever it’s called these days, the IKEA Palace of Varieties, and a long-over spanking of the Mags. Onward and upward.