Beating Manchester City at home? Just another day at the office

Jake asks: does anyone doubt it?
Jake asks: does anyone doubt it?

Couldn’t resist it. Mr Peter Sixsmith is currently composing his thoughts. His view of SAFC 1 Man City 0, from that wonderful seat of his in the East Stand of the Stadium of Light, will appear here soon enough.

Monsieur Salut has already had his say at ESPNFC.com. Find it here: http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/sunderland/id/2374?cc=5739

It starts like this:

It is rare for a Sunderland victory to seem pretty much a formality.

But would it be too impertinent to suggest that a single-goal home win against Manchester City is now so obvious an outcome that the points might almost be faxed or e-mailed from the City of Manchester Stadium in advance?

This was, after all, the fourth successive 1-0 win by Sunderland over City at the Stadium of Light, and it would save everyone the bother of having to turn up or tune in.

There was a middle bit like this:

In that home defence, Wes Brown was a towering force. The sort of player most Sunderland supporters adore for his rock-like defensive qualities and ability to pass the ball intelligently forward, he has had a seriously raw deal with injury since arriving from Old Trafford. Against Man City, he was utterly magnificent, man of the match by a country mile.

But wherever you looked around the pitch, Sunderland heroes came into view. Ki Sung-Yueng, cool and precise, epitomised the passing game Poyet appears have encouraged; Steven Fletcher, later Jozy Altidore, worked like soldiers alone up front; Vito Mannone staked a very strong challenge for the right to start ahead of Keiren Westwood in goal. But there were also sterling performances from Bardsley, Jack Colback, Emanuele Giachherini and Larsson.

And it ended like this:

If Poyet can preserve the spirit of this notable victory, and maintain discipline, the year could yet end with Sunderland out of the bottom three and aiming for what seemed implausible even a week ago: a midtable finish.

Have your say, there or here.

Monsieur Salut in Paris days, as seen by Matt
Monsieur Salut in Paris days, as seen by Matt
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