Monsieur Salut writes: we’ve been as critical as any others of Patrick van Aanholt this season. So let’s hear it for him after his second fine game in six days was capped by a matchwinning performance. His superb strike put us ahead and then, to Pete Sixmsith‘s delight, Duncan Watmore’s enthusiasm and appetite was rewarded with a brilliantly taken second to wrap up invaluable points.
Yes, the game changed with the dismissal early in the second half of Ryan Shawcross, lauded here in the Stoke City ‘Who are You?’ as the epitome of fair play, even the Premier’s “best defensive centre back”. But whose fault was that? He committed two clear yellow-card fouls on Watmore in the first half but was booked only once (mainly because Watmore sprinted away from the first illegal challenge instead of going down theatrically). The challenge that got him sent off was arguably not a foul, certainly – in my view – not worthy of a yellow card. But he’d ridden his luck and that luck ran out. Ultimately a terrific win and how important. Come back in due course for Sixer’s full assessment …
Nov 28 2015 SAFC (0) 2 Stoke City (0) 0 Totally unrecognisable from the last home game
Nov 23 2015 *Crystal Palace (0) 0 Sunderland (0) 1: Winning ugly but winning. Sam’s the Man*
Nov 7 2015: SAFC (0) 0 Southampton (0) 1 A truly dismal display that heralds relegation
Nov 1 2015: Everton (2) 6 SAFC (1) 2 The usual post-derby anti-climax knocks us flat or Quite clear why Advocaat decamped to Holland or The defending was like Halloween: absolutely fightening
Oct 25 2015: SAFC (1) 3 Newcastle United (0) 0 West Bromwich Albion Nothing better than the joy of six
Oct 17 2015: West Bromwich Albion (0) 1 SAFC (0) 0 * At least the pies were good quality to which Sixer adds Another Pantilimon error means still no win
Oct 3 2015: SAFC (2) 2 West Ham United (1) 2 Dick can be proud of his (?) players
September 26 2015: Manchester United (1) 3 SAFC (0) 0 Routine for United thanks to defensive errors
September 22 2015: League Cup: SAFC (0) 1 Manchester City (4) City’s brilliance aided by pathetic Sunderland defending or Defence horribly exposed by a rampant City or Not on the same planet as City
September 19 2015: AFC Bournemouth (2) 2 SAFC (0) 0 Couldn’t recover from a truly abysmal start
September 13 2015: SAFC (0) 0 Tottenham Hotpsur (0) 1 Vastly improved performance not reflected by result
August 29 2015: Aston Villa (2) 2 SAFC (1) 2 * M’Vila and Lens snatch a shaky point
August 25 2015: League Cup 2nd round: SAFC (3) 6 Exeter City (3) 3 Young hearts run free in second half
August 22 2015: SAFC (0) 1 Swansea City (1) 1 Gloom lifting after a more determined performance
August 15 2015: SAFC (0) 1 Norwich City (2) 3 I’ve seen some shockers in my time …
August 8 2015: Leicester City (3) 4 SAFC (0) 2 No encouragement to take from this shocker
Join the Salut! Sunderland Facebook group – click anywhere along this line
And follow us on Twitter: @salutsunderland … click along this line
Sam has changed the attitude and committment of the players and at least given us a chance of staying up. Coates, Kaboul, Fletcher and PVA are totally different players than they were six weeks ago. The team has develop steel and effort and he has only just started. Given the time he may be the long term answer, Believe and support.
The best team won , just as we did agsinst Palace on Monday . Huge credit to Allardyce for having the guts and tactical awareness to replace the influential O’Shea with Johnson ,along with the sending off it tipped the game in our favour . As to the merits of the sending off , ask the referee , we can only react to it and as long as our players didnt cheat mag style to engineer it our hands are clean . Looking far more solid under Big Sam , the same cannot be said for Dutch Schteve up the road though er sadly .
I feel like hugging ALL the players tonight, reserving something less formal for Sam.
So impressed with his tactical awareness – who foresaw John O’Shea coming off for an attacker?
I dare you to hug Sam
>So let’s hear it for [PVA] after his second fine game in six days
Doesn’t the bulk of the credit go to SA for setting us up in a way that can get the best out of him? Seems so obvious in hindsight doesn’t it?
I’m really pleased for him, he seems like a nice lad and I think the stick from the crowd was getting to him. He’s had a few canny goal scoring chances lately, great to see him put one away so sweetly.
I said this match would be an interesting one…
Yes, all that and more!
Definitely a huge step in the right direction. Do I detect momentum building?