At the Gurnell swimming pool in Greenford, west London this morning, a father and small daughter walked past and I spotted the girl’s bright but old Reg Vardy top. ‘Like her style but I fear she won’t be pleased later,” I muttered. We passed again outside as he drove off and we walked to our car. ‘Don’t be so pessimistic,’ he said after lowering his window. When Adam Johnson’s sweet finish gave Sunderland the lead on the stroke of half time, I forced myself to believe he had a point. It lasted until a brief spell in the second half that saw lead turn to deficit. So it went to script with yet another defeat and we still haven’t won there since 1996; at least we scored and, as Pete Sixsmith notes in the seven-word instant verdict on which he will build over the next day or so, played substantially better than on other recent visits to Goodison. It was also miles better than versus Boro or Villa but the run remains worrying …
Nov 10 2012 Everton (0) 2 SAFC (1) 1 Chances created, which is progress. Much better
Nov 3 2012 SAFC 0 (0) Aston Villa 1 (0) Another abject performance. A long winter looms
Oct 30 2012 Capital One Cup Fourth Round: SAFC 0 (0) Middlesbrough 1 (1) Plan B even worse than plan A
Oct 27 2012 Stoke City (0) 0 SAFC (0) 0 Don’t bother with MoTD: a real stinker
Oct 21 2012 SAFC (0) 1 Newcastle United (1) 1 Got out of jail. Just about deserved
Oct 6 2012 Manchester City (1) 3 SAFC (0) 0 Never gave up but City simply better.
Sept 29 2012 SAFC (0) 1 Wigan Athletic (0) 0 Scrappy performance but a win’s a win
Sept 25 2012 Capital One Cup 3rd Round: MK Dons (0) 0 SAFC (0) 2 Second goal settles nerves for comfortable win
Sept 22 2012 West Ham United (0) 1 SAFC (1) 1 Need to be more positive when ahead
Sept 15 2012 SAFC (1) Liverpool (0) 1 More than happy to take a point
Sept 1 2012 Swansea City (1) 2 SAFC (2) 2 *Lack of ambition against 10 cost points
Aug 28 2012 Capital One Cup Round 2: SAFC (1) 2 Morecambe (0) 0 Shrimps potted as we stroll to victory
Aug 18 2012 Arsenal (0) 0 SAFC (0) 0 Gritty, determined and a well earned point
To see Sixer’s Sevens in full, click here.
Join the Salut! Sunderland Facebook group – click anywhere along this line
And follow us on Twitter: @salutsunderland … click along this line
Hope you’re right mate, sounded like we played a lot better than we have been, and there were positives for us. Good luck to Everton, like to see you get top 4.
Seconded. Everton are a proper football club.
I agree but only to a certain extent. Good atmosphere from fans around the ground, knowledgeable debate in the pubs and the club itself seems concerned to be part of the community.
However, they should be ashamed to charge hard-working fans £32 for seats with obstructed views and the ground’s bars sell their sponsor’s product exclusively and at twice the price of the excellent, locally brewed Cain’s bitter which can be found in local pubs.
It seems to me they are not averse to exploiting fans’ loyalties to their clubs.
So it’s very much a could do better
Sunderland played well today, and even though we kept the ball well,you lot looked more like scoring. I won’t watch MOTD,as the score flattered us. If you play like today for the rest of the season,I can see you winning more than you lose.