Manchester United v SAFC Guess the Score: five each for Rooney, Poznan?

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Buy Two, Win Two, says Jake

This is how I have described the Poznan non-issue for readers of ESPN FC:

Hundreds of hospital wards, we are told, have been closed by the spread of Norovirus.

But another nasty bug – the Poznan virus – is doing the rounds and has affected worrying numbers of Manchester United supporters who have gone down with distressing symptoms ranging from gross over-reaction and humourlessness to an irrational desire for vengeance.

Fortunately for those whose responsibility it is to cope with this outbreak, the cause has already been identified: lingering United anger at the Poznan-style mockery indulged in by some supporters of Sunderland, to the amusement of many more (and neutrals), at the end of the final game of last season at the Stadium of Light.

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The Manchester United ‘Who are You?’: go down, Sunderland, for Poznan stunt

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Jake asks the question


In the league table of human wickedness, the Poznan mockery by Sunderland supporters – after Manchester United lost the title in extraordinary fashion despite beating us on the final day – is lower than the Inquisition, the Holocaust and 9/11. It’s not even as bad as singing ‘you’re s**** and you know you are’. But there are those from Manchester and many, many more from hotbeds of United suport in SE Asia, the USA and Woking who took it as a glaring example of Man’s inhumanity to Man. Scott the Red*, a good friend to Salut! Sunderland, was so upset he wants us to go down. Since he also believes we make too much fuss about diving, we may conclude judgement has deserted him. Scott, the brains behind both the Republik of Mancunia site and the all-club By Far the Greatest Team blog**, expects revenge on Saturday (as if United needed a trivial grievance to be favourites) …

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Martins Musings from Sunderland 3 – Reading 0: specialist subject – the bleeding obvious

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Jake's imagination
Malcolm Dawson writes,

for only the third time this season Martin O’Neill can celebrate a Premiership victory in his personal e-mail to Monsieur Salut but I’m sure that I’m not the only one who feels that there is little there that we couldn’t see for ourselves. Still on a freezing cold night, when McClean’s early strike calmed the beating hearts of the nervous and multiple layers kept the chill at bay we’ll forgive him for that. With a tricky set of fixtures in the offing let’s rejoice with the Boss.

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Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 3 Reading 0. What an army of doctors ordered

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Jake says: 'What about Danny Rose eh? Can you be called a colossus if you're only five foot eight?'

Now we all know a club with Sunderland’s sense of history, pride and ambition should never get carried away by a three-goal victory over such lowly opposition as Reading. But a) where has all that history etc got us? and b) we so needed three points. James McClean gave us a dream start, Steven Fletcher added a classy second and we waited for the third, fourth and fifth – OK, most of that is stretching things a bit – only to see or hear the familiar back-tracking to rattle the nerves. Reading, we’re glad to report, lacked any semblance of punch and Sessegnon’s cool stoppage-time finish ensured a comfortable win – leaving injury worries about Adam Johnson, Danny Rose and Phil Bardsley. Pete Sixsmith‘s seven-word verdict gives the synopsis; come back for Sixer’s full assessment …

Seen in the Tunis Medina. Kicking myself for not buying it

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SAFC v Reading Who are You?: ‘Biscuitmen to finish 16th, Sunderland not much higher’

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Jake asks the question

We first met Roger Titford* – market research specialist, writer and former chairman of Reading FC’s supporters’ club, in August. As we now know, this is monsoon season in the North East and a spot of heavy rain is or was quite sufficient to defeat Sunderland AFC’s attempts to stage a height-of-summer football match. Well Roger had cried out for a return to the good old days of mud-splattered footballers so the game really ought to have been played. With Sunderland nerves now in auto-jangle – we know failure to beat Reading would be a catastrophe but how many fans feel really confident? – it’s time for another go. And it seemed right to stick with Roger and invite him to update his August answers …

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