The business part of the weekend starts so early – 1245 kickoff at Goodison – that it makes sense for Salut!’s review of the past six or seven days to appear today.
(Fabrice: right, with Sol Campbell. Image: Barry Zee)
Over the past few days, I have wondered whether to post an article about Steve Bruce’s reflections on his sacking by Sunderland as manager. There has been plenty going on in French football since my return to France 12 days ago – and there is today’s fighting draw at Goodison to maintain our interest in the FA Cup.
But what does any of that matter when set against the awful news from White Hart Lane about the Bolton Wanderers player Fabrice Muamba, who collapsed during the day’s other cup tie, Spurs-Wanderers, and appears as I write to be fighting for his life?
Right, matchday approaches, David Moyes has raised the bar on what is at stake by fielding a weakened and duly thrashed team at Anfield and now two grand old clubs prepare to slug it out to keep Wembley dreams (for the final, that is, not just the semis) alive. Your task is simple: guess the correct score. Be the first to get it right, in the comments below or at the Salut! Sunderland Facebook group. Entries will be taken up to kickoff and the winner will be chosen by Monsieur Salut.
Do you sometimes feel the “Who are You?” interviews ramble on for too long? Could you do with something shorter, snappier? If yes, then David Stead, secretary of the Cumberland branch of the Everton supporters’ club, is your man. He said in advance he would keep his replies short and treated the questionnaire like an exam paper, choosing the questions he wished to answer and leaving the rest. We’re grateful all the same; being asked out of the blue to be a (blue) “Who are You?” candidate probably feels like having cold-call sales pitches from British Gas, BT and every other double glazing firm combined. So in the great tradition of Barry Maddicott, another Everton fan who, in 2010, produced the shortest “Who are You?” in the history of the series, here are David’s responses ahead of the FA Cup 6th round at Goodison …
Back in May 2009, looking back on an alarmingly close brush with relegation, in the season Roy Keane’s tempestuous reign ended and Ricky Sbragia managed to keep us up without ever seeming manager material, Ellis Short gave the Sunderland owner’s view in an interview for the club site.
Liverpool supporters may remain calm. Plenty here have attested to historic admiration for the Red half of their city (while perhaps harbouring misgivings about recent events). Here is the backlash: Peter Sixsmith, long ago lapsed as a Long-haired Lover of Liverpool), turns an unaccustomed shade of blue …
Time to show off Jake’s FA Cup taster – and to encourage Salut! Sunderland readers to help a Mackemoiselle in search of modest charity sponsorship …
Salut! Sunderland is relieved to hear criminal damage charges will not be pressed against Nicklas Bendtner; we hope Lee Cattermole can now prove his innocence. Further comment is probably inappropriate so let us instead enjoy some thoughts from an expert source on our manager’s own (wholly blameless) brushes with the law …
When Salut! Sunderland hammers on about cheating in football, and declares that any diving and feigning of injury is beyond the pale and not just when committed by opponents, the world is silent. When Arsène Wenger says something similar, everyone sits up and pays attention.
That is naturally as it should be. Not only is Wenger a top voice in football, deserving of a serious hearing when he makes a serious point; his call, reported with big headlines today, for an end to the conning of referees also sounds a little like a Damascene conversion.
No beachball to win us the game. No long-distance McCallister dive to claim them a draw. Just a solid, hard-working but full deserved victory for the better side.
This was Michael Goulding at the Blackcats list: “I have always liked Liverpool and used to think Dalglish was the dog’s bollocks. I lost respect during the Suarez affair (as has half the country, by the sound of things) and his buying record and current form are akin to previously sacked Liverpool managers like Souness, Roy Evans, etc. Roy Hodgson got sacked without losing three league games in a
row (which Dalglish has just done). My good Liverpool-supporting mate went to Wembley the other week and says it was just papering over the cracks.”And this is Pete Sixsmith with a magisterial assessment of the game, the BBC’s deranged priorities and the current state of two great clubs …
