Crystal Palace who are you? “Big Sam was the man to take over”

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Jake’s take

John McCormick writes: I don’t often visit other fans’ websites. But in setting up this edition of “Who are you?”, which Colin organised before his departure, I visited The EaglesBeak and I have to say I was impressed. It’s everything a fan site should be, so it’s no surprise that we have another good set of answers to our questions, from Eaglesbeak’s Dan Crame. I can’t say I agree with him about Patrick, but he’s right up there when it comes to everything we want to know before the Palace game.

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Sixer’s Tottenham Soapbox: Plenty to like in a hard fought game

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Pete Sixsmith: a man of myth and legend

John McCormick writes: I didn’t see much of last night’s game. I did see Jack Rodwell’s foul and would have had him off at half time to prevent a potential second yellow. But David Moyes apparently didn’t think there was any need to worry; Rodwell stayed on and had a “quietly effective game”, according to Pete Sixsmith.

What else did Pete note?

Find out for yourself as he regales us with not only another fine match report but also a slight diversion down memory lane, past Roker Park and towards 1961, when Spurs used only 17 players, all from the UK, in doing the double.

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Wrinkly Pete’s crystal ball: the post-Spurs update

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Peter Lynn, aka Wrinkly Pete

When Peter Lynn, young-at-heart  but prematurely aged physically by watching Sunderland, began his exercise in calculating how the rest of the season would go, he concluded that 37 points would be enough for survival – and that we’d get them.

After enduring the atrocious displays at home to Stoke and then at West Brom, even forgetting the equally clueless cup exit at Burnley in between, you might expect him to chuck in the towel.

Not so.

Pete predicted no points against Stoke, knew we’d be booted out of the FA Cup at Turf Moor, and bargained on only a draw at the Hawthorns. So he has only one point to retrieve. Will it come? Where might it come from? Well, Pete reckoned we’d beat Spurs for a start, which  called for 100 per cent support from the crowd and Honeyman-level commitment from the team. What happened? Here’s his update ….

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Moyes on the boys v Spurs: It’s a good point

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Jake’s take on this season’s manager

John McCormick writes: I had a slow-to-stop feed and couldn’t get the audio from the SAFC website so I have very little to go on. I did think this was a hard fought point and that we made, and needed, our luck.

What of Mr. Moyes, who had a ringside seat with no stuttering, pauses or (thankfully) crashes. Here’s what he said after the game:

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Sixer’s Tottenham Sevens: Ndong and Kone stifle Spurs

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Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season

John McCormick writes: 

I’ve been having a spot of bother with the website this evening. It has been loth to open pages for editing and very slow to load. So please bear with me as I try to put up pages today and tomorrow.

No problems with Pete Sixsmith, however. He’s right on the whistle with an instant post-match verdict, in seven words, no more, no less  …

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Sixer says: Welcome back Lynden Gooch, au revoir John Hurt

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Sixer by Jake

John McCormick writes: Patrick’s impending departure leaves me quite unmoved. It’s just on a year since I saw him score the opener at Spurs, after which he disappeared as they swept past us. And that seems to epitomise his play since. What does move me is not only how will we replace him but how will David Moyes rebuild a squad that is depleted, underskilled and getting older by the minute? Pete Sixsmith may have some of the answers in his report on events at Hetton: 

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Salut! Sunderland’s 10th birthday present: from us to you

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Join the Salut! Sunderland Facebook group – click anywhere along this line

And follow us on Twitter: @salutsunderland … click along this line

 

Consider this a last piece of housekeeping, says Monsieur Salut, before I depart for the Far East (holiday in what I still calls Burma, not to sign up as a goalie in China). It will remain at the top of the home page until my Salut! Sunderland colleagues get up with seeing it there.

The 10th birthday competition invited readers to share their thoughts on any Sunderland-related topic with 10 years being the theme. It is still open to new entries.

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Guess the Score: special Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Southampton prize edition

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Jake says: ‘have a go’:

Monsieur Salut writes:

There is already a Guess the Score prize competition running for SAFC v Tottenham at this link. Check it out if you haven’t already.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I leave on holiday, entrusting the safe stewardship of the site to Malcolm, John, Pete and Jake in the knowledge that there will also be a steady stream of first-rate contributions from Wrinkly Pete, Bob Chapman, Ken Gambles and so many more, who will have the foresight to send their words to salutsunderland@gmail.com as well as to me.

And for the small matter of taking nine points from the three games in my absence on holiday, I leave the club in the safe hands of David Moyes and our splendid players, who will naturally be welcoming some top new colleagues before Wednesday.

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Blackpool, Bolton, Blackburn and even Morecambe. Is there a warning for us?

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John McCormick: We're not bottom, so is it a Happy Christmas?
John McCormick. Live from Liverpool

John McCormick writes: I was thinking of updating our “Relegation watch” this weekend, seeing as there’s no football on, but with a couple of days to go before the transfer window shuts it feels like it’s too early to complete the “before and after” picture. I could have given you my view of Deloitte’s Money Football League but in recent seasons that has been pushed into the summer and I like it there. So I’ve decided to do another of my occasional visits to clubs on this side of the Pennines, where there is plenty of food for thought.

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