John McCormick writes:
Readers still cannot post comments. We are continuing to work on it but everything I have tried and suggested to date has failed.
Some might say that’s pretty much the story at the Stadium of Light, although we did manage a clean sheet in the League last weekend. Malcolm and Pete bore witness to it and Pete provided the match report which graced our pages on Sunday. Does this mean Malcolm will be doing the honours tomorrow? I suspect it does but for now we continue with Mr Sixsmith and his seven word texts, the one in the title sent at half time, when we were winning, and two more sent immediately on the final whistle.
(If you wish to make a post match – or any – comment of your own you can always have your say at Salut! Sunderland’s Facebook group. Click on any of the preceding four words. If you are told that you need to join the group, you can do so easily. Approval is very quick.)
Sunderland vs Leicester Under 21s and Gillingham: welcome cup excitement or just more distraction?
A third season for Sunderland in League One seems unthinkable. If failure to win promotion last season was a failure, as the owners and then manager Jack Ross admitted would be the case, another stumble would be hard to bear.
Phil Parkinson, working with his inherited squad, has had a patchy start as Ross’s successor, three away defeats mitigated by three home wins, cup ties included. The league part of that short record – two wins, two defeats – is not the stuff of automatic promotion. Without significant improvement, we will remain playoff contenders.
View from the CW Stand: U23s well beaten by Reading
SAFC U23s 0 Reading U23s 4 I would expect professional football coaches to have a greater insight into the ability …
Sixer’s Southend Soapbox: no points for Sol from the SoL
Malcolm Dawson writes……the bus from the business park off Wessington Way to the ground was packed yesterday but there was …
Sixer’s Southend Sevens. The world is just a great big O’Nien
Our technical problems have not been completely fixed. Readers cannot post comments. We are working on this.
In the meantime, you can always have your say on anything that appears here, or for that matter any SAFC topics which do not, at Salut! Sunderland’s Facebook group. Click on any of the preceding four words. If you are told that you need to join the group, you can do so easily. Approval is very quick.
We’ve often enough fallen foul of clubs who have made recent changes, so it came as non surprise that we struggled against Southend. But we won, which keeps us in the running. Pete Sixsmith ‘s seven word text, immediately on the final whistle, tells us what makes the difference between a team on the edge of an abyss and one that just might, at some indeterminate point in the future, get into the playoffs:
What Sixer made of Southend United: a repeat of last season’s 3-0 would do nicely
Monsieur Salut writes: it is now fairly well known that Pete Sixsmith‘s wonderful twin series at Salut! Sunderland – the First Time Ever I Saw Your Team (or Ground when Sunderland were the away team) – ran its sublime course at the end of last season. From time to time while we are still in League One, and maybe beyond, we will reproduce the pieces he wrote about our next opponents.As ever, bear in mind that this was written a year ago, just before we recorded a fourth win a row, beating Southend United 3-0 to keep up pressure on the top place. This time, we nee a similarly emphatic scoreline to restore a fair amount of diminishing faith. Let Pete’s restored gem from October last year set the scene …
What you think about Sunderland vs Southend (updated)
Well, I asked and you’ve started to answer, says Monsieur Salut.
Because our Comments section is still inaccessible after recent technical nightmares, I suggested posting your scoreline predictions at Salut! Sunderland’s Facebook group but also invited comments on the bigger Sunderland picture.
Since your comments can still be seen behind the scenes if you attempt to post them in the normal way, they can be copied and pasted to a new article such as this.
Phil Davison, a Mackem exile in Mexico, set the ball rolling, starting with his SAFC-Southend prediction. Other comments will be added as they arrive and/or appear at the Facebook group.
Sunderland vs Southend: most Black Cats eat shrimps but are Shrimpers edible?
NB: our technical problems have not been completely fixed. Readers cannot post comments. We are working on this.
In the meantime, you can always have your say on anything that appears here, or for that matter any SAFC topics which do not, at Salut! Sunderland’s Facebook group. Click on any of the preceding four words. If you are told that you need to join the group, you can do so easily. Approval is very quick.
Even after three shameful away defeats, not counting our league cup exit at Oxford United after Will Grigg and Marc McNulty flopped in the penalty shootout at Oxford, Sunderland would be most people’s tip to beat Southend this Saturday in some style, writes Monsieur Salut.
Despite recent form, patchy at best, SAFC are just outside the playoff zone at eighth. The Shrimpers (or Seasiders or Blues, according to taste) , with Sol Campbell newly installed as manager, are second bottom and would be bottom if it were not for Bolton’s point deduction. Our goal difference may be a thoroughly unimpressive +5 but their is -27.
There is a but coming.
Sixer’s Oxford Sevens: all that way for nothing after two Premier League scalps
NB: our technical problems have not been completely fixed. Readers cannot post comments. We are working on this.
In the meantime, you can always have your say on anything that appears here, or for that matter any SAFC topics which do not, at Salut! Sunderland’s Facebook group. Click on any of the preceding four words. If you are told that you need to join the group, you can do so easily. Approval is very quick.
John McCormick writes: Pete Sixsmith isn’t travelling beyond The Wash, or the M62, or something like that. So tonight’s seven word summary arrives courtesy of me until someone who was there forwards their opinion, and while we’re on the subject of forwards what do you think of our penalty takers?Our illustrator Jake offered this answer to John’s question in the form of an alternative seven-word verdict: ‘Penalty. Grigg blazes over. Is anyone surprised?’ </strong >
Oxford United vs Sunderland: will we make the EFL Cup last eight?
The EFL Round of 16. We’re in it and can make the quarter finals by winning, away yet again, on Tuesday night, says Monsieur Salut.
Salut! Sunderland wants to know how you think we’ll fare at Oxford United, having previously beaten Premier League opponents Burnley and Sheffield United on their grounds. But we still cannot publish comments.