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Tottenham Hotspur Who are You?: how Sunderland loan made Danny Rose great

January 26, 2017January 26, 2017 by Colin Randall

Chris Miller (r) with Ledley King, a splendid one-club man and the club was Spurs

Colin Randall writes: No strategy, no continuity. That’s the damning verdict of our Spurs ‘Who are You?’ interviewee Chris Miller*, blogger, podcaster and tweeter on all things THFC. He thinks we’re doomed but also believes David Moyes could achieve something at Sunderland. And he recalls Teemu Tainio as a ‘cult hero’ at Spurs. Best of all are his comments on Danny Rose and how he both he profited from his time on Wearside and also loved it. I apologise for posting so early for a Tuesday kickoff but my hand has been forced by the need to get things done before I go off on holiday …

Salut! Sunderland: Spurs have been wowing people all season; a Boro friend says you’re by far the best he’s seen at the Riverside. What has gone right?

Chris Miller: Well it took a while for us to click for various reasons, but now that most of our injured players are back, we have a settled team, and we’ve tweaked the formation, we’ve pushed on and are now playing consistently. We’ve got a fantastic defence (though Jan Vertonghen’s injury is a concern) and now our attack is starting to pull up more than a few trees too.

SAFC v Tottenham Hotspur Guess the Score: double prize if Sunderland win

January 31, 2017January 25, 2017 by Colin Randall

Jake updates his brilliant image for last season’s SAFC v Spurs game

Monsieur Salut is off to the Far East on ~~a fact-finding tour~~ holiday but puts off preparations to explain how one esteemed reader of this site can win not one mug, but two in this week’s competition …

Each matchday is preceded by a Guess the Score competition. And each week, most of Salut! Sunderland‘s loyal readers operate on the principle of blind faith and predict a win or a draw for the team they support.

A non-gloating West Brom view and talking Lescott (up and down)

January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 by Colin Randall

Andy Caulton, exiled in the USA, celebrates in the mountains with his Chris Brunt top

Andy Caulton was seen on the pages of Salut! Sunderland before the game between Sunderland and his team, West Brom, at the Stadium of Light on October 1, a afternoon marked by a traditionally bad SAFC start, an second-half recovery and a late equaliser from our joint second-top scorer, Patrick van Aanholt. He did the “Who are You?” interview in which he revealed a soft spot for Sunderland – and a fleeting memory of his dad mending Brian Clough’s car*.

Now PvA looks likely to desert Wearside for a reunion with Big Sam at Crystal Palace. On the face of it, it’s another of those rash gambles Sunderland have a habit of taking (Bent and Kaboul out, Graham in are examples that spring to mind) , unless there is someone better lined up to take his place. Time will tell whether Joleon Lescott is that player; the money is on him joining on a short-term deal. [UPDATE: signed as a free agent until the end of the season].

Wrinkly Pete’s Crystal Ball: ‘don’t panic, it’s only Tottenham next’

January 23, 2017 by Colin Randall

Peter Lynn, aka Wrinkly Pete

I’m sending out an SOS, ‘cos I’m in so much distress

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 reckons we’ll beat Spurs for a start, though he doesn’t say how beyond a call for 100 per cent support from the crowd and Honeyman-level commitment from the team ….

A key moment in SAFC’s West Brom no-show – and Papy’s little problem

January 23, 2017January 23, 2017 by Colin Randall

Happier days for Sunderland AFC, and the Echo

One bright spot on a dark day for SAFC supporters was the introduction of the Sunderland Echo’s new chief football writer, Phil Smith, to listeners to Barnes and Benno in the buildup to the limp display at West Brom.

Phil is a Sunderland supporter, not the first to occupy this particular journalistic hot seat or cover the SAFC beat for other media outlets. Like Graeme Anderson and the late, hugely missed Ian Laws before him (not forgetting Chris Young and Nick Barnes’s predecessor as BBC Radio Newcastle commentator Martin Emmerson), he came across as man brimming with passion for the club and sharing the pain of the rest of us. (Not so sure about Chris’s prior allegiance but he writes about the club, even since departing for more glamorous pursuits in LA, in a way suggesting SAFC got under his skin Niall-style.)

WBA v SAFC: Rob’s one word ratings – we’re toast kids

January 21, 2017 by Dean Cruddace

We weren’t expecting much more were we? The positive predictions in “Guess the Score” were surely the result of optimistic …

Moyes on the boys v West Bromwich Albion: “We’re not too far away”

January 22, 2017January 21, 2017 by Colin Randall

Jake’s take on this season’s manager

John McCormick writes: Were there any positives to take from today? I’m trying to think of some but I’m struggling. I suppose, with Palace losing, that we’re not out of it, which is something David Moyes alluded to on “Radio 5 live” after the game. If I remember correctly he said we’re not too far away [from safety], which is true, but in every area of the pitch West Brom, with whom we’ve contested many a promotion challenge and with whom we’ve shared many a relegation battle, were giving Ellis Short a lesson in how to run a club.

I suppose another positive is that we do have a manager with a Premiership pedigree, although I think he might well be trying to rebuild a relegated side next season. Anyway, here’s what he thinks after yet another defeat:

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Sixer’s Sevens: West Brom 2-0 SAFC. All but Honeyman throwing in towel

January 21, 2017January 21, 2017 by Colin Randall

Monsieur Salut writes: No Pete Sixsmith at the Hawthorns. He wisely gave himself a day off from the drudgery and misery of supporting Sunderland and caught a game (and maybe some decent fish and chips) at Whitby. Another wretched defeat, 2-0 as I am afraid I predicted at ESPN, and we’re where we probably deserve to be, bottom place. Gary Bennett told BBC Radio Newcastle listeners we were ‘all over the place’, ‘lost’ and lacking a leader. It must be all too easy to play against Sunderland, he added. At least we have no game next weekend, said Nick Barnes; ‘we’ll still lose,’ came Gary’s reply. George Honeyman, on his league debut, came closest to offering that leadership Benno craved. No other positives …