Pete Sixsmith saw a very good performance, a good point won – again – against top opposition and ended up feeling just a hint of disappointment …
At 5.20pm, as I came out of the East Stand beaming at the excellent performance I had just witnessed, I heard the bloke in front of me say: “If we had put the subs on a bit earlier, we could have beaten that lot.”
From David Schiavone, one of the Red Cafe Man Utd podcast people, came this understatement: “Well done, your team were quite impressive”. Along with a belated signpost to my pre-match interview for them (a bit past its use-by date but you’ll find it at this link if you really want; the interview is along way in). But meanwhile, Salut! Sunderland’s need for the treatment table is growing …
Thanks to the continuing technical problems that are beyond our control, it has sometimes seemed hardly worth the effort to post items at Salut! Sunderland of late.
Footballunited.com hopes things are about to settle down; indeed it hoped this would happen over the weekend.
I’ll believe it when it happens, as will Jeremy and Martin in Canada, Manchester United fans trying to follow a link from the Republik of Mancunia site and various people I’ve heard of in the North East who have been unable to see what we’ve been doing here.
Flooding the Manchester United dressing room with a burst pipe was a great ruse. But after the plumbing-delayed start, we couldn’t quite turn general supremacy into victory. The second half was more even, but we still had more chances to clinch it – …
So Steed Malbranque had two decent chances. Bolo Zenden hit a post. Darren Bent had a half-chance. We outplayed Manchester United for long periods of this game – and yet, after yet another stonking display against Big Club opposition (four in a row), we had to settle for a draw.
That’s Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. Four games from which we might have got absolutely nothing, but from which we ended up with six points. And for the second time in those games, we were entitled to feel we had done enough to merit a win.
This report has been superseded by SAFC 0 Man Utd 0: two dropped points
Our ingenious ruse, attempting to destabilise Manchester United by bursting a pipe in the away dressing room, nearly paid off .. but after the plumbing-delayed start, we couldn’t quite turn first-half supremacy into a lead …
All I have to go on is the BBC Radio Newcastle radio commentary via the offical SAFC club site. I cannot bring myself to watch an internet stream that I know is many seconds or even, in one case today, minutes behind the action.
But the commentary from Nick Barnes and Gary Bennett is good, if partisan (pro-SAFC despite the name of the station).
And there does not seem to be the slightest doubt that Sunderland deserved to go in at half-time with a lead of at least one goal.
Lots of raw nerves were touched with reaction to our Republik of Mancunia interview yesterday, with Manchester United fans displaying a mixture of indignation and bewilderment at both sites, and loads of thumbs-down here, leaving Salut! Sunderland to ooze all the wisdom and fair play it could muster. Now the boot is on the other foot: the Stretford End Arising blog – click here to see it – lobbed some questions our way. Here goes …
Stretford End Arising: In recent years games between Sunderland and Manchester United have been tight affairs with only a single goal separating the two teams. What are your views on Saturday’s fixture? How are Sunderland likely to line up?
Salut! Sunderland: We did better at your place than ours last season. At Old Trafford, although you finished strongly, it took Richardson’s folly and a wicked deflection to save a point for you. At Sunderland, we huffed and puffed but United always looked safe on 1-0 and capable of stepping up a gear. Saturday is our third major test in a row; you’ll be on a high after Valencia and it is going to be tough. I suspect Bruce will stick with Mignolet in goal despite Gordon being fit again; defence depends on the injury list but our chances of getting a result would rise if Mensah were available Up front, I wonder whether the ineligibility of Welbeck will tempt Bruce to start with both Bent and Gyan, but suspect he’ll flood the midfield. Our key players could be Mensah if fit, Jordan Henderson (a Man Utd fan, I was distressed to learn recently) and Steed Malbranque in midfield and, of course, Bent. And Cattermole’s ability to stay on the pitch.
The police have a hard enough job gaining and keeping public sympathy and understanding when they act with sensitivity, tact and a sense of fair play. How much worse it is when they appear to care little about the impact their decisions have on ordinary people. Let Pete Sixsmithclimb on to his Soapbox and begin his tantrum with Sky and Mike Ashley also in the firing line …
Yesterday both the Newcastle United and Sunderland websites carried brief statements to the effect that the Tyne/Wear derby on Oct 31 had a changed kick off time. What had been a 4pm. start was now scheduled for 1.30pm “on police advice”.
Well, isn’t that just bloody marvelous.
Abject apologies yet again to the growing number of people I hear about, from Canada to the North East, who cannot currently visit Salut! Sunderland – and may therefore not even see this apology – or can gain access only intermittently. Arrangements are in hand to shoot the techies.
For those who are still with us, here is our second “Who Are You?” preview from Old Trafford ahead of tomorrow’s game at the Stadium of Light. We turned to our old friend and sparring partner Scott the Red, who runs the mighty Republik of Mancunia fan site. Scott you may recall, was horrified by the incident in which Phil Bardsley was judged to have dived in hope of a sneaking a penalty equaliser in last season’s game. My initial thought was that Bardsley had simply fallen clumsily. Whatever the truth, he was booked for cheating and slagged off unmercifully at RoM for being a Salford lad who ought to have known better when United were still just about in contention for the title. Scott talks more fondly of other Sunderland folk with United links …
Two months from now, we will reach the 10th anniversary of the death of Len Shackleton, one of the greatest players – and arguably the most charismatic – to wear the red and white stripes of Sunderland AFC.
Salut! Sunderland thanks Mark Walton, at the Blackcats list, for a link to a superb BBC 5 Live documentary presented by Jimmy Armfield a few years before Shack’s death.
Who are You? That’s the question we ask before each Sunderland game. Paul Eccleston*, our first visitor this season from the ranks of Manchester United followers, is that rarity: an unblinkered football fan. His lifelong support for the club does not stop him recognising Nani as a diver who has effortlessly inherited Ronaldo’s crown. Leaving aside that aspect of their play, how do such men compare with top Red Devils of the past? Paul, whose self-description – “Fleet Street journeyman” – does scant justice to an exemplary career as reporter and news editor, reflects on the flawed giants of Old Trafford …
To read part two of this week’s edition of “Who Are You?”, click on The Republik of Mancunia speaks
Salut! Sunderland (question posed before last night’s United win in Valencia): Let’s start below the belt: are Manchester United already out of the title race and has Sir Alex, great a manager as he’s been, gone past his use-by date?
I think it will have crossed the mind of most United fans that we have to start thinking about life after SAF. We’ve already had some very dodgy draws against teams we should have beaten – Fulham and Everton in the Premiership and Rangers in the Champions League. Does this have anything to do with our failure to make any headline signings for the second successive season? Does SAF genuinely see no value in the market or is he being denied funds by the Glazers? Another failure in the Champions League and finishing behind a rampant Chelsea in the Premiership this season will inevitably lead to claims that Ferguson is past his sell by date – but how many times has he confounded the critics before?
I suspect that he has already decided when he will go – possibly at the end of next season – and has already played an active role in deciding who his successor will be – probably Jose Mourinho who by then will have completed two seasons at Real and is really the only manager with the track record and the arrogance to think he can take over from Ferguson.
Andy Reid is a cultured midfielder. He’s also, by all accounts, an accomplished musician. But a nasty little theft has prompted him to issue an appeal for help in the return of some important items of personal property …
The theft of two guitars owned by me, though an impossible crime since I have only one, would not be a reason for public distress.
