John McCormick writes: We make the long trip to Southampton aiming to put a stop to the poor start to the season. And what team will we have out to do it? Kone, do you think, alongside new signing Javier Manquillo? Or perhaps Borini returning to feed and support Defoe?
Rob Hutchison, master of the occasional one-word, one-mark matchday ratings, returns to devil advocacy, with some strident and, doubtless for some, controversial thoughts on our plodding progress in the transfer window …
Hola kiddies . . . .another week in the life of Sunderland’s little devil.
Middlesborough. Was it a derby? Of course it was. They’re our almost nearest if not dearest. To claim otherwise is merely pouting that we don’t really care about these perceived also-rans. Bragging rights are everything, and when we beat them at the Riverside, oh it will be glorious.
Not quite 14,000 souls got along to the Stadium of Light for the traditional empty-ground start to a League Cup campaign. Pete Sixsmith was one of them but said, bluntly: ‘For those quizzing, reading, walking or just plain breathing, you missed NOWT.’ But we won, and now have a 3rd Round tie at QPR to contemplate … plus, some time today, the completion – assuming the medical went well – of our signing of the Atlético Madrid fullback Javier Manquillo …
John McCormick (subbing for M Salut) writes:
That Patrick was captain should tell you all you need to know about the team we put out tonight. Still, we won, with what was by all accounts an excellent goal, and head off to Shepherds Bush in the next round.
If you do want to know more, however, then look no further. We’ve spared no expense in bringing you the letter penned not by by our manager but by his assistant and sent by courier to M Salut (and maybe one or two others) straight after the match.
There has been very little anguish over DeAndre Yedlin’s move to Newcastle. Some of us believe he was worth bringing back, based on his significant improvement towards the end of last season. Others do not rate him, yet, as being of Premier League standard. But with talk of Atletico Madrid’s Javier Manquillo being on the point of signing – that fountain of truth, the Daily Star, says it will cost us £13.6m if he plays 25 times this season – perhaps we do not need (yet) to panic.
Tonight? Truly awful first half against mighty Shrewsbury, despite having what passes these days for a strong side. Second half not much better, said our Pete Sixsmith – ‘slowly losing the will to live’ – until the late winner from Adnan Januzaj. ‘A corker’ was Sixer’s verdict. He’s off to the south coast now in readiness for the much bigger test of Southampton on Saturday. We will know by the morning whether he felt able to delay his departure sufficiently to write more than these seven words on tonight’s game ..
Malcolm Dawson writes….we’ve already a great preview of tomorrow’s League Cup from Shrewsbury fan Carl Jones (read it here). How much we should read into the result, whatever it is, is a moot point, as is how much time David Moyes is allocating to the preparations with the transfer window nearing closure. Now Pete Sixsmith finds time in between his forays into non league football and his trip to Salisbury, prior to our clash with Southampton, to bring us a Sunderland perspective on the match. He may or may not have time to file a report for us on Thursday but rest assured he will be there.
We are delighted to welcome a Shrewsbury Town supporter, Carl Jones*, to talk about his club, football in general and Wednesday’s league cup second round tie at the Stadium of Light in particular. Carl wasn’t sure whether he could attend but has now arranged to be there, hoping for an upset against whatever side David Moyes – a former Shrewsbury player of course – puts out. He reckons there’ll be another 2-1 scoreline, and still not in Sunderland’s favour …
So we had two correct predictions for SAFC v Boro, both from Middlesbrough fans (Smoggie and the WAY interviewee Thomas Keen). There was no prize mug for this match – they may be a bit sparse this season – so they must be feeling a little like those who pick the same lottery numbers every week but forget to buy a ticket the Saturday they come up.
Malcolm Dawson writes…..I nearly didn’t go today. I’ve got a bad back. But my lift arrived early so I struggled into my socks and shoes and did what Lamine Kone didn’t do and trekked along to the Stadium of Light. I’ve moved a row back this season but the faces from last year were all there and we spent the pre-match minutes inevitably talking about how the events of the close season have put us back into a familiar frame of mind for our first home game of the season. Of the starting XI only Don Vito, PvA and Defoe were left from the line up which had put Norwich, Chelsea and Everton to the sword and ensured another season of Premiership struggle. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We were supposed to be consolidating ourselves as a top half side. Instead we lined up with kids and other clubs’ reserve team cast offs. My GP has ordered a whole set of blood tests, I’m due an X-Ray in the week to see if he can determine the cause of my pain and has threatened me with a prostate examination if nothing is forthcoming from those. (I think he’s a closet Mag!) In the meantime I’ll let Pete Sixsmith describe his own painful experience (and I don’t mean getting through the multiple roadworks on the A690.)
John McCormick writes. Pete’s sevens were pessimistic but I thought we did OK in the second half and will be fine once we sort out our defence, midfield and attack.
What does our manager think, however? Well, to let you know, here’s a look at the letter he sent to M Salut, and maybe one or two others, immediately after the game: