Who can blame us? We’ll all be dining out on this for the rest of the season, with double helpings if Gus Poyet’s revival continues …Monsieur Salut is on strong, strictly no-alcohol anti-biotics which could hardly have been more badly timed.
Here is what I made of it at ESPNFC.com – they always want an instant appraisal when we do well.
Sunderland’s rout of Newcastle keeps Poyet on course for a miracle
If the successive 2-1 away wins at Newcastle seemed a remarkable achievement for Sunderland under Peter Reid, hammering the Magpies 3-0 at St James’ Park two seasons running belongs to the world of football fantasy.
But however often Sunderland supporters pinch themselves to check they are not dreaming, the result remains: Newcastle United 0-3 Sunderland.
For the first time in nearly a century, the margin of away victories in Tyne-Wear derbies has been at least three goals from one season to the next. And the most recent of those wins, in one of Saturday’s early games, was as deserved as the demolition in April last year that had Paolo Di Canio slithering along the muddy touchline in his Armani suit.
Gus Poyet has his own ways of showing delight but will understandably be a proud man after a magnificent, disciplined team effort that not only swept aside rivals who have outperformed them all season, but completed back to back Premier League wins that now make survival an altogether realistic objective.
Having also booked his side a Wembley appearance for the Capital One Cup final, he will surely be a runaway leader in the manager-of-the-season stakes if he finishes the job of keeping Sunderland up. It looked beyond him before Christmas; now he is making a mockery of Di Canio’s recent suggestion that the team had done no better under Poyet than it did until his own dismissal.
This was a performance that did not depend on Newcastle playing poorly, though they were deeply unimpressive in key phases of the game. It was built on a solid base of 11 men, and I mean all 11 who started for Sunderland, doing their jobs to near-perfection …
Read the whole piece at http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/sunderland/id/2788?cc=5739
Things are certainly getting better and I wonder if behind the scenes in the development section the Udinese Model is starting to move forward.
By this I mean are we soon going to be in a position where we can move on some of our older squad players such as Gardner, Larsson, Cuellar and maybe even Cattermole and the underperforming Fletcher and replace them in the squad with our up and coming youngsters plus a couple of shrewd purchases .This would avoid the need to bring in six or seven or more new faces at the beginning of each season.
From our current crop I have in mind the likes of Ba, Mavrais ,Mober- Carlsson, Gerrin, Watmore, Mandron ,Pickford, Egan and Laing who over the next couple of seasons fill in when required get experience of a dozen or so appearances a year before becoming first team regulars.
we’ve been on a slow burn of an improvement where performances have improved steadily and surely over the months since Gus arrived. Now those performances, particularly away from home are turning into very good results. Agree with what everyone says above. The fear is of course that someone else might want to take him. Not necessarily bigger but more suited to the fact that his family home is in Windsor,
The situation at Tottenham is the one that concerns me. I watched the whole of the Spurs game today and remain bewildered why Sherwood (even temporariliy) could be a better bet than Villas-Boas.
What Ellis Short needs to do is to convince Gus (and maybe he already has) that this is the place to be, that he will be backed to the hilt, well paid and can achieve what he aspires to as manager of Sunderland.
Just when even the most thick skinned of us thought we would never find out saviour, out of the darkness he comes.
I have this feeling and I don’t know where it’s come from, that soon Gus will have a Niall Quinn, Kevin Ball, Gary Bennett, epiphany and become a Sunderland man.
Even if he doesn’t I think he’ll be keen to see the job through but I also get the feeling that he’ll want to do it on his own terms.
Gus seems to have got the players believing once more and has their respect. They have bought into his way and we the fans have bought into his way.
Yesterday, Bridcutt who is very much Poyet’s man, was waving his arms about directing those around him. It’s no coincidence that recently Cattermole has been trying to do the same.
I really get the feeling that here we have a manager who will be around for a good few years to come. My only concern is that we don’t really know what went on at Brighton and whether or not there is any danger of something similar bringing things to an abrupt end. Events of the past few days however, lead me to believe that Ellis Short is aware of the goings on there and has also bought into the Poyet way.
The David Moyes’ situation is showing how tough it can be for even an excellent, well-respected manager to go into a ‘top’ club and deliver on the expectations of the board and fans (though I realise there are a lot of Manchester United supporters who want to give Moyes time). My hope is that the chance to build from the bottom up is more appealing for Poyet than going to a club like Spurs. It all depends on his relationship with Short and the board, so let’s hope it’s developing into a good partnership.
Brilliant performance and survival now looks a real possibility.The secret? We’re not getting carried away , its step by step, game by game, steady improvement.We don’t think the jobs done, nowhere near and it mightn’t be untill the final whistle of the final game but I now think we’ll prevail .I’ve had my moments of doubt this season , who hasn’t ? and we might yet have a few more but we are now looking a strong team , with a will to win who are hard to beat. All credit to Poyet and the players, the man is exactly what we needed after Di Chuckle brothers and if we,s.a.f.c supporters are dinning out on our third successive humbling of the “worlds biggest clerb” for the rest of the season,Di Canio will be dinning out over the first one for the rest of he’s er……..managerial career !
I feel that the difference is, that last year we had a new manager, and things snow balled to the win. This year we have a pretty much established manager who actually knows what he is doing.
Roy Keane pretty much was good at Championship level, but since, we have not had a manager who can think tactical, and Gus Poyet does exactly that. My only downer is that some big team may try to take him.
If we beat Hull, I will be on Cloud 9. They are not yet secure, and it would stuff puddin’ head Bruce big time.
I agree wholeheartedly that Ellis Short needs to get Poyet onto a long term contract if he can … it’s a pleasure to have a manager whom “bigger” clubs might want but he can build for the future with us. The Cattermole situation was interesting – clearly part of his remit is to keep wages down (a one in, one out policy??). Short is of course very shrewd and a bit of extra investment now could pay dividends in the long run. Not that I’m getting carried away mind!
I have been critical of Short’s decision making since marginalising Sir Niall and taking total control but it looks as though he is getting better advice and listening to someone who knows the game better than he does. That someone would appear to be Gus Poyet if the Di Fanti, Cattermole, Bridcutt and maybe even Craig Gardner and Phil Bardsley decisions are anything to go by.
I’ll give him his due – things have improved no end and as Drummer says below the job’s not done but there is real hope that the improvement will continue.
No-one epitomises the turnaround more than Bardsley and it surely makes sense not to let him (and Catts) go to other teams in the relegation mix. For once I wanted Moye’s boys to win today but not to be. Next week’s game is another big one!