SAFC 6-0 Newcastle. Seven in a row, after a fashion

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From the excellent Chris Young of the Sunderland Echo comes the heartening news that Duncan Watmore scored three times as Sunderland walloped Newcastle 6-0 in the secret friendly.

Seven-in-a-row? Of course not. Of no importance? Debatable but yes, if you support NUFC – though even some of their fans are joking about Steve McClaren telling the TV afterwards he was proud of his lads’ “fantastic” performance and was just disappointed at the result.

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Summer signings Coates and Borini to leave? Giving Ellis short shrift

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Malcolm Dawson writes……it’s a proven fact that we all feel better when our chosen football team is doing well and that poor on field results can bring disappointment and depression.

It may only be a game but football fans are stuck with their team. Some glory hunters might chop and change but the true supporter has no options. I was a fresher at college when Sunderland last won anything meaningful and now I’m only a couple of years away from a state pension.

Our first FA Cup win happened 17 years before I was born and the last League Championship Sunderland claimed was the year before that. Eighty years ago in fact. So success is not something we are used to.

Should we be doing better? Surely we should at least be doing as well as Stoke City, West Ham or Spurs. Surely we should be better than Watford, Southampton and Leicester City and no disrespect is intended towards those clubs. 1973 apart Sunderland AFC have been perennial underachievers, at least in our own eyes for eight decades now. Little windows of optimism have promptly been slammed shut again.

We all have views on the causes of our current malais but if he hasn’t already done so, maybe the owner of the club should take a long, hard look at his tenure in charge.

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Beauties and beasts: simply red and glowing with pride after Leeds epic

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Buy now at
Check out the Classic Football Shirts Sunderland AFC collection at http://bit.ly/1MEMc5Z

Ken Gambles was admirably prompt in his response to requests for contributions to the Beauties and Beasts series on Sunderland kits past and present. But Salut! Sunderland proceeded to lose or at least overlook his affectionate reminiscences on a special away strip from his youth. The search party has now reported back and we can make amends. What we cannot do is direct you to our friends at Classic Football Shirts to buy the shirt; they have 300,000 in stock but the SAFC range starts in 1981. And the YouTube clip below is in black and white …

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Sixsmith’s Soapbox: technically speaking, it’s no longer Bournemouth and Boscombe

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I suppose a SOAPBOXbournemouth (1)point is better than nothing, especially as a lot of other results went our way. We’re still in the clarts but we’re in contact with the other strugglers.  Should that group include Bournemouth? Eddie Howe has a well-drilled side and I thought they looked good for a lot of the game but they also made some errors, so my opinion is yes.

But what is my opinion worth? Nothing. Nowt, Zilch. The man who matters is Pete Sixsmith. He was there, here are his thoughts, and well worth reading they are:

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SA’s Essay: getting the point of Bournemouth

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John McCormick writes: We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what Pete Sixsmith thinks of this result. I know, however, that Jake’s thinks a point isn’t enough, as that’s what he sent with the graphic you’ll see at the bottom of the page. Jake isn’t the only one to send stuff, of course. The manager also communicates with Colin (and perhaps a couple of others), who generously shares Sam’s post-match e-mail with us:

Jake's take on Big Sam
Jake’s take on Big Sam

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Sixer’s sevens: Sunderland 1 Bournemouth 1: I suppose it’s OK

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Jake: catch Sixer's instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season at https://safc.blog/category/sixers-sevens/sixers-sevens-2015-2016/

John McCormick writes: Early on in the game some stats came up. Bournemouth have scored the most early goals in the Premiership and we have conceded the most.  It came as no surprise when Bournemouth scored a couple of minutes later. We got back into it when Patrick came to our rescue and we even managed a bit of attacking before the end. Did we deserve to win? I don’t think so, but you might think Pete Sixsmith disagrees, from his instant verdict in seven words, no more no less, straight at the final whistle

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Wrinkly Pete: supporting Sunderland, excusing my French

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Do not try at home
Do not try at home

Salut! Sunderland‘s Monsieur Salut was rebuked recently for banging on too much about France. Since the old French Fancies series, looking at Ligue 1 and below, has largely fallen into disuse, this seemed odd even if the very title of the site betrays a connection with the other side of the Channel. Others did spring to the old codger’s defence and the old codger himself has no known French blood, just a French wife, two half-French daughters and a quarter-French granddaughter.

M Salut’s much greater shame is to have been born in Hove though County Durham was the place of his upbringing and youth, the family has long-established if historic Sunderland connections and anyone on Wearside called Morris may be distantly related.

Just for fun, here’s Peter Lynn‘s wry look at the little contretemps …

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SAFC v Bournemouth Who are You?: ‘you’re going down, you deserve better’

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Steve
Steve

Just in the nick of time before Monsieur Salut beetles off to Krakow for a long weekend, Steve Jenkins* from the Bournemouth fan site Tales From the South End comes up with the goods for our regular Who Are You feature. He’d take Jermain Defoe back to Bournemouth in a heartbeat and worries about the threat he could pose in Saturday’s game. And he is a strong admirer of Big Sam. Sadly, he believes only one of ours teams will survive this season and that it won’t be Sunderland …

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Sixer’s farewell to Pantilimon and Graham hails effort over achievement

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Jake's take on Pants, whose heroics at the Emirates helped keep us up last time
Jake’s take on Pants, whose heroics at the Emirates helped keep us up last time

The transfer window is an opportunity for some players to move on and restart their careers. And so it is that, while saying welcome to Jan Kirchhoff and Dame N’Doye we also say goodbye to Costel Pantilimon and Danny Graham.

Neither will be rated as amongst the finest signings the club has made. They will not be spoken of in the same awed terms that are reserved for the likes of Chris Turner or Marco Gabbiadini (48 today).

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