Malcolm Dawson writes……they say as we get older we revert to childhood. In my case that means buying two ounces …
John McCormick writes: I’ll update my “relegation watch” charts over the empty weekend (aren’t all weekends empty these days?) and you can work out just what our chances are of surviving the drop from some numbers that are looking less dodgy with every match. In the meantime, here’s Peter Lynn, AKA Wrinkly Pete, with some reasons why we should not be feeling too happy after taking four points from our arch enemy
Ian Todd, a lifelong Sunderland supporter who moved away for university and has spent his adult life in London, has graced these pages intermittently throughout Salut! Sunderland’s nine-year life. He is the man without whom the London and SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association wouldn’t have been created, or at least not as early (1967) or successfully as it was. It was, until this season, unthinkable that he’d be absent from more than a handful of games. In fact, while he continues to attend home games and has already renewed his season ticket, his presence on Sunderland’s travels has become a rarity.
Here is how he explains his decision in the new edition of Wear Down South, the branch newsletter, with a footnote* from the Blackcats e-mail loop on why he gave the derby a miss. Taken together, it’s a mix of the reason you perhaps wouldn’t expect, and one you would …
Malcolm Dawson writes………the fact that those supporters in black and white were euphoric at the end, whilst those in red …
John McCormick writes: the quote in the headline’s from Sam’s post-match letter to Colin and one or two others. I know what he means but I have to say, bad as Newcastle were, I don’t think we looked a lot better. Hoof and hope does not sit well with cultured players like M’Vila and Kirchoff on the pitch, and as for keeping possession and taking territory from the opposition, forget it. I don’t agree with Sam’s opinion that we controlled and dominated. As Sam also says “We tried to defend too deeply instead of getting on the front-foot; we needed to keep putting them under pressure” and we didn’t, so it’s no surprise to me that Newcastle had the time and space to come back at us and that we let in yet another late goal.
Here’s the full letter so you can read it and pass on your own opinion if you like.
Rob Hutchison is worried. ‘Point all round then,’ he says. ‘Seagulls still circling the northern trawler.’ Here are Rob;s customary one-word, one-mark ratings for Sunderland’s team in the disappointing 1-1 draw at Newcastle …
Pete Sixsmith saw DeAndre Yedlin’s schoolboyish attempt at a throw-in, rightly penalised, prompt the Newcastle move that broke our hearts. After coping well with the limited Toon threat up to that late point of the game, comfortably defending the splendidly taken Jermain Defoe opener just before half time, it felt like a real bodyblow when Mitrovic finished the move by easily rising above – yep – Yedlin to head home the equaliser. Newcastle then looked more likely than us to steal a winner in a game that ought to have extended six to seven-in-a-row but left us back in the bottom three. Sixer reckons we lost our way after being on top in the first half adding that our failure to hold leads could prove terminal …
Pete Sixsmith takes us on a journey into the past as he reports on a derby match played long, long ago yet which has not been forgotten and probably, for some reason, never will be
Amid a barrage of criticism levelled at SAFC ownership and management, Peter Lynn offers an alternative view of on and off-the-field problems that include, in his view, the spectacle of supporters leaving the Stadium of Light early …
Parts of Salut! Sunderland are a bag of nerves as the Tyne-Wear derby approaches. Six-in-a-row will count for nothing if Newcastle United end the run; even a draw may end up being insufficient depending on the result in WBA-Norwich on Saturday and, more important still, the outcome of Norwich’s forthcoming home games against both us and Newcastle. Here is an assessment of our chances, and how others rate them, from Noah Sparrow…