Welcome to the new season and another series of the Martin O’Neill post-match e-mail – sent exclusively to Salut! Sunderland (and a few thousand others). Football purists are wittering on tonight about us parking the bus. They said nothing when Chelsea won the CL, also by defending deep and relying on breaks. MON considered it a tremendous effort and elsewhere promised new signings soon (Adam Johnson was today’s rumour)..
Dear Colin,
It was a terrific performance by the team, considering that after about 60-odd minutes we were out on our feet. I thought we were really excellent, it was a brilliant effort.
We’ve got a point, we’re off the mark, and we’ve got a home game to look forward to.
In the first half when we broke we broke with some promise and had chances.
James McClean hit one at the goalkeeper and maybe Jack Colback might have been a bit more forceful with his shot. We did create.
Obviously as you’re under pressure you get tired and things are going to open up for the opposition.
I thought Craig Gardner was outstanding as was Kieran Richardson and the two central defenders.
Simon Mignolet made a fantastic save early on, from Santi Cazorlo, but all the team were fantastic today.
It was a great effort.
All the best,
Martin O’Neill
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Clubs spend zillions on strikers, and the media love it, then complain when other teams have little choice but to respond tactically. Oh, I forgot, we’re supposed to roll over and let them win.
In a world where we started a new season with just two bosmans in and Wolves can demand £15m for Steven Fletcher, it’s fitting that Arsene Wenger is probably the only man in North London that didn’t complain about us parking the bus! Has he gone senile? He did think we were Leicester…
Hopefully Martin can bring us the new players we’re desperate for and the days of us playing like this will become fewer; it’s surely not a way we want to see our now established club perform? Still a decent start, Cuellar with an olympic determination was the pick from what I’m told. Now Adam Johnson and some strikers please? Defoe will do, and that Berbatov fella.