Big Sam told BT Sport’s Football Tonight show he’d celebrate Sunderland survival with ‘a very nice holiday in Spain and a few bottles of champagne’. We can safely assume he can afford champagne that will keep in the cellar until promotion next year. This was a game we knew we had to win; the scraped draw makes it a lot less likely we’ll be celebrating come May.
On the basis of a grim second-half performance that allowed Connor Wickham to do what he rarely did for us, score twice or at all, we were lucky to grab even a point. Fabio Borini’s equaliser came from nothing. It was a fabulous strike, speculative or not, with time running out. But unless we surprise everyone by producing a mightier team performance than this at Southampton, it’s looking bleak. Pete Sixsmith, excellent on BBC Radio Newcastle in the pre-match buildup, will be back with more; this is his seven-word instant verdict … Pete Sixsmith
March 1 2016 Sunderland (1) 2 Crystal Palace (0) 2 Borini thunderbolt salvages a scarcely deserved point
Feb 27 2016 West ham United 1 (1) Sunderland (0) 0 Hugely disappointing. Points there for the taking
Feb 13 2016 Sunderland (1) 2 Man Utd (1) 1 Sam’s new boys make all the difference
Feb 6 2016 Liverpool (0) 2 Sunderland (0) 2
1) Could this be the season’s turning point? and
2) *The window’s shut but so’s the trapdoor
Jan 23 2016 Sunderland (1) 1 AFC Bournemouth (1) 1 Suppose one point is better than none
Jan 16 2016 Tottenham Hotspur 4 (1) Sunderland 1 (1) Poor decision making on field and benchJan 13 2016
Swansea (2) 2 Sunderland (1) 4 Much improved second half after dismal first and a second texted 7 came in shortly afterwards – Always good to win away in Europe!
Jan 9 2016 Arsenal (1) 3 Sunderland (1) 1 Had chances but they have better players
Jan 2 2016 Sunderland (1) 3 Aston Villa (1) 1 The old hands pulled us through this
Dec 30 2015 Sunderland 0 (0) Liverpool 1 (0): Better performance but the inexorable slide continues
Dec 26 2015 Man City 4 (3) Sunderland 1 (0): Drew second half; shame about the first
Dec 19 2015 Chelsea 3 (2) SAFC 1 (0) *Fought like tigers. Undone by woeful start
Dec 12 2015 SAFC 0 (0) Watford (1) 1 * Disappointingly insipid and cannot complain about result
Dec 5 2015 *Arsenal (1) 3 SAFC (1) 1: Deserved better but couldn’t take our chances
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 frightening
Oct 25 2015: SAFC (1) 3 Newcastle United (0) 0 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
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Altidore’s scoring fairly regularly for his Canadian team, from what I’ve heard; maybe N’Doye can join him, because there’s no way he’s a premier league player, even taking into consideration his ‘goal’ tonight. Borini must sit and watch and wonder at being behind him on the teamsheet, because I do!
Yeah. And who scores for West Brom against Leicester (My closest Prem Team) but Craig Gardner. Oh my giddy aunt all the ex players have had fun tonight.
Even Danny “Couldn’t Score In A Byker Brothel” Graham scored toneet! If Altidore is playing somewhere tonight miracles could happen!
We had to win this one. But, we picked up 3 points against Man Utd, which kind of levels things off. We may still escape. Hugely disappointed with the result. But good on Borini to level it at the end. Finally he did something.
Anything from Away to Southampton is a bonus, and then Everton. We have to win that game now. I had it down as an Unknown, but I had this game down as a win.
Bloody Connor Wickham. That’s who I blame. :o)