Gus Poyet had every reason to be pleased at 5pm. What had been impossible for 15 years or so at Goodison had just become possible – a Sunderland win. The fans had chanted ‘we’re going to win the league’ even at 0-0. The reaction at full time suggested that dream had been realised. Here’s what Gus made of it in his post-match e-mail …
Dear Colin,
Many people have asked what I wanted for Christmas – I was very clear, three points would be the best present for me.
You never know what is going to happen in football, you have to be organized and take advantage of mistakes and we did that today.
It was very hard work – even up against 10 men, Everton were very tough to play against. We need to take this result and do something similar on Saturday.
Sometimes strikers get all of the credit when they score goals but our goalkeeper was our key player today, he helped us get a very important three points.
Valentin [Roberge][and Modibo [Diakite]are absolutely exhausted, they’ve stepped in and been very professional, and now have one day to recover before our next game.
We’re going to do everything possible to make sure they’re okay for Saturday.
There was pressure on Ki [Sung Yueng] for the penalty, big credit to him, he did well and scored it.
We showed great concentration, fighting spirit and the quality that was needed to come through today.
All the best,
Gus Poyet
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Fabulous result and gutsy performance at Goodison. Now the acid test is to play well and gain something at Cardiff because as we all know, every decent Premiership win this season has been followed up by a poor display in the next game.
One of the hallmarks of elite footballer’s is that they perform to a high standard in the vast majority of games they compete in, irrespective of their opponents.
Too many at SAFC can look pretty decent one week and then be anonymous the next and the added irony this season is that the better displays of such players-and the likes of Larsson, Colback and Johnson spring immediately to mind, have been against the better sides.
Larsson and Colback, for example, were excellent against Newcastle, nullifying Cabaye and co in midfield, yet a week later at Hull they were woeful as Huddlestone and Brady etc ran the show for City in an almost arrogant manner. This has happened regularly with several Sunderland players which suggests their is something psychological going on in their heads when they up their game against the better teams and then switch off aginst supposedly lesser sides-the recent performance aginst Norwich was pathetic, only days after such an effective win over Chelsea in the League Cup quarter final.
So can this pattern change in Wales against a Cardiff team wha are clearly being affected by the ridiculous antics of yet another ego driven foreign owner in Vincent Tan? Win and we’re a point behind them. Lose and they’re seven points better off than Sunderland.
Massive game? No, its much bigger than that.
Poyet was making a point about a winter break the other day. For once, I’m inclined to agree – that the fixture list should at least be less pressured. Away at Everton on Thursday, then away at Cardiff only 2 days later, and 2 centre-halves out. The only plus is that it won’t leave the players much opportunity to be staying up late on their X-Boxes, or whatever the latest toy is this year.
Only one player needs saluting from safc and that’s tim howard utter dope easily evertons game if it werent for him habe away the pen and took the entire shape out the team
It was great to see diakite and Roberge making their comeback yo the first team.Let us hope that mavrias and Ba comes in for Larson and colback.
A great and important win, a slice of good fortune, which is well overdue. We took advantage and worked hard for our 3 points. It was strange to see Mark Hughes had a different attitude to Stoke’s dismissals than he did to WesBrown’s
I am feeling very secure with Gus Poyet in charge, I feel he will not only keep us up, but also start a change in fortune for SAFC in years to come.
I know we were very lucky to come away with 3 points today, but we have been incredibly unlucky during this season. Poyet’s Sunderland deserve to remain in the Premier League, so let us all hold faith that they will.
Previous manager’s incarnations of the team just about scammed their way. Finally we seem to have the correct guy at the helm.
Couldn’t agree more. Secure is exactly how I feel. I think we’ve finally got the manager we’ve been hoping for, who can build for the long-term. Even if we go down (am also ridiculously more hopeful than before 4.50pm yesterday) – I hope he’ll stay with us. In Gus we trust.