John McCormick writes With M Salut away it has been left to Malcolm and myself to look after things over the weekend. This was one of the games I was thinking of coming up for but events down here a few days ago meant the trip was a non-starter, and that was before the weather. Nevertheless, I thought this was an attractive fixture so I was surprised at the low crowd. Low by our standards, that is. I get the impression it won’t be bad overall in comparison with some other games this weekend, especially when things like storms, the cost of travel to Manchester for a no-show, our impending Wembley visit etc. are factored in.
Enough of that, the team did enough to keep the 16,000 happy. But what of Gus? how does he feel? Here, in his own words to M Salut, he tells us:
Dear Colin,
I’m very pleased, Southampton are a very difficult side to play against; it’s very difficult to have the ball, very difficult to have chances.
Normally they are on top and I think overall we were better than them.
Then you need something to happen because we were, in terms of playing, controlling it better than them in the first half but without a shot on target.
They were more dangerous than us and that’s the only thing we tried to address at half time.
What a way to address it, with the goal from Craig Gardner.
Then we had the chances to score again and we missed a few possibilities and decisions, but overall I’m very pleased.
There were players today that have given me a lot to think about for the future and also about the shape of the team and the idea of playing with two strikers.
I thought we were excellent on the ball today. Everybody was brave with their passing and decisions and that was the part that pleased me the most.
The win was the most important part of this week. We want to have a normal week and prepare for Arsenal in a nice way, and of course not winning a game today would have made a bit of a difference.
I’m sure the players will come in on Monday with happy faces.
All the best,
Gus Poyet
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You get out of a game what you put into it and although the makeshift Sunderland team lacked cohesion at times they put in effort and a great deal of spirit. They all played for the club and each other. Southamptons motivation is their concern but the victory was well earned and deserved, Cattermole was immense and the new signings knew their role and followed the strategy, a sign of good coaching, I wonder if the Saints coaching staff are motivated to the same extent, just asking
It seems to be forgotten that Sunderland made TEN changes [ from last starting 11 ]
I think it was one of those games where the visitors never really got into their game, mainly because Sunderland didn’t allow them to.
Lambert’s miss was a freak – he would have scored 99 times out of 100, but they didn’t carve us open on many occasions, and I thought SAFC were good value for the win.
Did Southampton intentionally lose a football game? That’s a hell of an accusation, and one if I was a saint, would think twice about making as it suggests the manager has a lack of respect for the sport, the competition and the supporters. I understand as a supporter you need to look for excuses for your team’s fairly dismal performance, but you’d be better off putting it down to our greater teamwork, desire and tactics than coming across as a rather bitter and petty contributor.
Well said. I assume they wanted to draw and lose the other games against us as well…
Then again Lambert may have deliberately missed from 4 yards…..as Giach did for us at Villa
Manager refused to give interviews…..hmmm….leaving in the summer. Saints in bottom 6 last season, over performing this season…..what about next season??
In Gus we trust
In fairness, I think Eurosaint’s tongue-in-cheek posting (note the exclamation mark) was simply making an observation on the apparent relative desire of the two teams on the day. He isn’t actually saying his team deliberately threw the game – only that they were so bad it looked like that.
Oh I don’t know about that. A few sardines might come in handy against the Gooners.
Did Sunderland win, or did Southampton intentionally lose? After watching the match, I know how it looked!
No danger of relegation and what else could S’ton win this season?
A 630 mile round-trip in the worst weather this century for some stalwart fans.
And their team didn’t try?
I’d sack the manager out of hand
Found out the score while finishing off some sardines in Lisbon. Bravo lads …. More of the same in the league please, winning not eating sardines that is