Can Sunderland make a nonsense of the somewhat contrasting league positions and return to winning form?
No one who saw our performance at Swansea, whether at the Liberty Stadium or watching abroad or on dodgy streams, would give us the slightest chance of ending Chelsea’s run of nine straight wins.
Questions arise. Has the David Moyes post-match e-mail been replaced by a re-run of his general soundbites? Or was he just so disgusted by his team’s poor showing that he couldn’t be bothered? We may never know …
Rob Hutchison dictated his one-word ratings to his daughter Olivia as they returned, subdued, from south-west Wales. ‘He’s rather grumpy,’ she reports. Both worried the poor performanced represented a ‘return to type’ – but both heartily praised supporters of both sides for the Bradley Lowery chant on five minutes: ‘brought tears to my eyes,’ though it’s not clear if those eyes were Rob’s, Olivia’s or from both …
As for the players, only Pickford and Papy picked up decent marks from Rob.
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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It is always refreshing to hear a different view on a current hot topic. Paul Summerside intended this as a comment at our Facebook pages after Monsieur Salut’s piece was published (see this link) but it deserves an outing here, too …
First of all let’s talk about the player as an asset to our club.
Based on a consistent end to last season, Yann M’Vila has somehow managed to propel himself into folklore among a section of Sunderland fans. I thought him to be a useful asset, especially when you consider our injury crisis. There’s no doubt he is a strong-tackling grafter.
But goals, key passes and assists … don’t remember many of those.
As Salut! Sunderland‘s deputy editor, Malcolm Dawson, put it in a comment on these pages late last night, the end of Sunderland’s hopes of bringing back Yann M’Vila – from Russia with the love of so many of our supporters – represents the loss of a player of known quality.
Martin Bain, SAFC chief executive, explains: “I was contacted this week by M’Vila’s representatives, who advised that the player no longer wishes to join Sunderland.
“There was a three-and-a-half-year agreement in place, however after discussions with the manager we have decided not to enforce the contract. Any player that we bring to Sunderland Football Club must be wholly committed.
“Yann M’Vila will therefore not be joining us in January and we wish him well for the future.”
Next Tuesday, December 13, is the deadline for stories, anecdotes and random thoughts on the things we do for our love of SAFC (or others do to accommodate that love). The prize is the print of Roker Park you see above, supplied by our generous sponsors http://www.wearedorothy.com. We have already had some excellent entries which can be seen at the earlier posts: https://safc.blog/category/salut-competition/ – and they keep trickling in. Here is Peter Lynn – Wrinkly Pete – with some lovely memories of times gone by …
Saturday brings another game of huge importance, a chance for Sunderland to continue the encouraging recent revival but against opponents as desperate as us for points. Ian James is a Swansea City supporter and also the sort of football enthusiast the game needs: ‘profoundly deaf’, as he put it in our e-mail exchanges, he was the co-founder of the club’s Disabled Supporters’ Association, from which he is about to step down as chairman. Ian gives some straight-to- the-point responses to our questions ..
Roll up for another prize (see below) Guess the Score, Swansea City versus Sunderland …
Had we lost at Bournemouth, drawn against Hull and failed to beat Leicester, the visit to Swansea would have had “must win” written all over it.
But we didn’t. We won all three and there was even a smidgeon of honour in defeat at Anfield.
Is there a team in the land in which Jermain Defoe would not score goals? Probably not. Is our extraordinary little striker just not fashionable – or young – enough a footballer to appeal to the Peps, Joses and Antonios and the brands they manage? Maybe. We’re just lucky we have him. And Monsieur Salut’s daughter, Nathalie Randall, who has an irrational love of Liverpool, relegating Sunderland to second place in her affections, wishes he earned his living at Anfield …
I’ve always been a big fan of Jermain Defoe. My dad thinks its only because I fancy him but he’s too short for me..