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.
Dear Colin,
It was a tough night with a lot of young players, but we saw it through with a great goal to wrap up a good result.
It was a fantastic goal – we just watched it again in the dressing room – and Adnan [Januzaj] took it really well.
We also had one or two young lads getting another 90 minutes under their belt, which is good for us.
Jordan Pickford came in and did well keeping a clean sheet – he made a great save at 0-0 – so there were some positives tonight.
It’s nice to get our first win of the season and the games come thick and fast so we will recover and look forward to the weekend.
We have a few knocks we need to assess and Vito [Mannone] has had an x-ray and there was nothing on that, so we’re just waiting for the results of a scan so we will keep our fingers crossed.
Javier Manquillo flew in this afternoon and he’s having his medical as we speak, so fingers crossed we can get that one over the line.
Thanks for your support,
Paul Bracewell
The Manquillo deal is now official. Naturally the club have put a positive spin on this and hopefully he will improve the team, despite various publications describing him as “Liverpool flop”.
My initial concern is that he is here on a year long loan with an option to buy. Having had Vergini, Coates and Alvarez on similar deals doesn’t inspire me with confidence, though I would have been happy had M’Vila become a Sunderland player at the end of his loan spell.
Naturally it’s too early to judge Manquillo and we’ll need to see what he brings. Hopefully he will prove his worth so that Moyes won’t have to drop him after 24 games to avoid invoking the purchase clause.
Or Brace, Brace, Brace…….
If Bracewell is to be a regular substitute, may I suggest “Paul on the Ball” as a title?