Salut Podcast: Aston Villa nightmare & the visit of Stoke City for Sunderland

 

Complacency is word of the week. Think what you will of Paolo Di Canio’s methods thus far as a manger, it’s hard to argue with his conclusion that the nightmare at Villa Park was largely down to the complacency of the players, writes Stephen Goldsmith.

 

It was palpable amongst the fans too. Add that to the fact Villa fans appeared to be quite the opposite and it gave me a dreaded feeling as kick off approached. One collective group focused, the other not. This group of players have proved to us time and time again they aren’t all that, so trudging out onto the field with their eye off the ball was never going to end well.

Can we take ANY positives from a 6-1 defeat? Andy Dawson puts forward a great case for it; thought provoking and the ultimate positive thinking. Andy writes for The Mirror, The Sabotage Times amongst many others, he’s also written a book about Niall Quinn and Roy Keane’s first season at Sunderland called The Irish Uprising. Gareth Barker feels it was less a complacency thing and more a crapness thing on the day, compiled with an impressive and fast opposition. Man of the match Matt Lowton’s performance could certainly be down to the manager’s left hand side preferences, in my opinion.

We also talk to Stoke City expert Mark Holmes who is a sub editor and writer for the quite excellent TEAMtalk. We collectively discuss whether or not this is a must win game and how the hell we get on without Stephane Sessegnon. There’s also a snippet of Di Canio talking to yours truly about that very predicament. Well, he kind of side steps the question but the audio is there.

You can get it on ITunes or directly here https://soundcloud.com/wise-men-say

I would also like to wish Spennymoor good luck in the final of the FA Vase against Tunbridge Wells. There’s a strong possibility that the strike force will be the Mackem duo of Gavin Cogdon and Mark Davison, both of whom I know quite well. Both great footballers with Gav quick to remind me through text message this week that he’s the leading scorer in the competition. While Gav smiles his way through life, ‘Sparky’ is likely to shout anybody down who doesn’t pull their weight at any given time. I’d avoid him like the plague if they lose. I’m sure they won’t. Best of luck.

Next Post