Monsieur Salut writes: Still no Pete Sixsmith absent on his reindeer dressed in Santa’s red and white, so it’s another emergency seven-worder, this time from me. It was a drab first half with Jermain Defoe carving out the best chance of the half, but failing to provide a suffciently accurate finish, and even the second best, when Billy Jones had a menacing run on goal only to avoid shooting and try to set up Defoe or Larsson, who seemed to get in each other’s way. But Swansea had greater possession and worried us from set pieces. After the interval, Denayer quickly conceded a wholly unnecessary penalty, raising his arms to a cross, and a few minutes later, it was two when no defender could get to a low corner. Sunderland occasionally huffed and puffed, as they had in short spells before, but more often looked liked conceding more than getting back into the game. To no great surprise, a third Swansea game came. An unimpressive, error-strewn display devoid of sharpness dumps us back in bottom place and the pressure is back on …
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December 10 Swansea City (0) 3 Sunderland (0) 0* Woeful performance resurrects all the old fears
December 3 Sunderland (0) 2 Leicester City (0) 1 * Superb team display; heroes all over pitch
November 26 Liverpool (0) 2 Sunderland (0) 0 * Committed, organised resistance overcome by better side
November 19 Sunderland 3 (1 ) Hull City 0 (0 ) Victor’s the boy. We have some hope
November 5 Bournemouth (1) 1 Sunderland (1) 2 *Anichebe typifies gutsy display that gives hope
October 29 Sunderland (0) 1 Arsenal (1) 4 Spectacular collapse as soon as Giroud appeared
October 26 EFL Cup 4th Round: Southampton (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 * More fight but still no real threat
October 22 West Ham United (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 0 A real killer. Deserved a point. Damn
October 15 Stoke City (2) 2 Sunderland (0) Another inadequate performance that offers little hope
October 1 Sunderland (0) 1 West Bromwich Albion (1) 1 Awful lot of cracks to paper over
September 24 Sunderland (1) 2 Crystal Palace (0) 3 Shambolic defending, barely of Wearside League quality
EFL Cup 3rd Round: September 21 QPR (0) 1 Sunderland (0) 2 *Paddy McNair our new Defoe? No but…
September 18: Tottenham Hotspur 1 (0) Sunderland 0 (0) Point lost thanks to traditional defensive howler
September 12 Sunderland 0 (0) Everton 3 (0) Torn apart in an abysmal second half
August 27. Southampton 1 (0) Sunderland 1 (0) Disappointing at the end, as ever here
August 24. EFL Cup 2nd Round: Sunderland 1 (0) Shrewsbury Town 0 (0) Poor game settled by an excellent goal
August 21: Sunderland 1 (0) Middlesbrough 2 (2) Another season of struggle on the cards
August 13: Man City (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 1 Held them well but tired legs told
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We’re like an addict . Just as we think we’ve kicked the habit of self destruction , we go crawling back to it . Back on the wagon lads and stay strong .
Pleased I was ho ho Hoing ? in Jesmond. A red and white in enemy territory. As always, we take one step forward and two back. Poor results elsewhere for us as well. Still,Chelsea should be a doddle on Wednesday.
Typical Sunderland really,we always do it the hard way.
My view is Moyes picked the wrong line up.We played better with Kirchoff on the pitch last week,Denayer not that good for me,gives the ball away.
Now restored …
A panic involving granddaughter faintong in school choral performance and having to go to A and E led to a hasty posting in which the introductory text was lost. Apols. All clear at hospital