Of course, Monsieur Salut has no intimate knowledge of the QPR manager’s feelings ahead of Saturday’s game at the Stadium of Light. But if someone calling himself Ian or Holloway, from west London, plumps for an away win in the comments below, you’ll know soon enough.
Put it this way. Pete Sixsmith gives a lot more to the football-supporting public than he gets back. …
Monsieur Salut writes: before the game, I was wondering – controversially, I know – whether there was more chance of identifying a believable character or storyline twist in Line of Duty (sorry, I’m catching up late on this well-acted, gripping hokum) than of finding reason for belief in Simon Grayson and the Lads. Then we led at Deepdale, came back after going behind and secured a valuable, morale-boosting away point.
Pete Sixsmith decided to give Deepdale a miss, less in protest at the incompetence he has witnessed week after week than because Shildon had an FA Cup tie at Banbury (and saw our adopted home town win 3-2). He handed the baton to our associate editor John McCormick, whose seven-word verdict appears below. John had a much better outing than his last one, to Goodison, and enjoyed his afternoon. BBC’s Radio Newcastle pundit Gary Bennett expressed disbelief after the match that the referee had given nothing when the PNE keeper beat a returning Duncan Watmore to the ball but outside the box and with his arm – but yet again we couldn’t hold on to a lead and keep a clean sheet. Benno made John O’Shea his star SAFC man and said something along these lines: ‘I know it’s only a point but that was 100 per cent better than what we’ve been seeing’ …
What is left to say? Another game, another sense of trepidation or, if Pete Sixsmith was right in his clinical assessment of our plight after his bleak evening at Portman Road, another reason to be “largely past caring”.
Preston North End vs Sunderland. Fifth top vs second bottom. It seems beyond belief, whatever the level of pessimism that our deputy editor Malcolm Dawson and others experienced in the summer.
And now, Simon Grayson and Sunderland’s search for a point or three, as opposed to a search for a point even lower than reached so far, goes on Saturday to Deepdale, the famous old ground of the equally famous Preston North End with its Bill Shankly, Sir Tom Finney and Alan Kelly stands.
Mark Collard*, our PNE ‘Who are You?’ volunteer, was found at Twitter via Monsieur Salut’s electronic acquaintanceship with the singer and writer Maggie Holland. Mark, whose Twitter profile reads ‘archaeologist. director at Rubicon Heritage Services. PNEFC fan’, welcomes the newly positive Preston style under Alex Neill ‘after the tedium of a lot of the games under Grayson’. He sees our misery continuing with another defeat for the former PNE boss …
Jason Steele may feel it was the curse of Salut! Sunderland. No sooner did we run a largely pro-Robbin Ruiter outsider’s piece on the battle for the No 1 jersey than Newton Aycliffe-born Steele is recalled to side only to concede five times.
But in yet another painfully dismal display by Sunderland, producing a crushing 5-2 defeat at Ipswich, Steele was nowhere near being Simon Grayson’s weakest link.
Long before the end of the latest home defeat, to Cardiff City on Saturday, Pete Sixsmith had reached the conclusion that he was watching the worst Sunderland team since he first started going to Roker Park in the 1960s. That was for his seven-word instant verdict; his considered appraisal of the game was more measured, but not much kinder. It didn’t stop him going to Ipswich.
From where he sent another bleak assessment.
When not moping about the wretched start to the season, and wondering what planet Simon Grayson was on when he lauded the chief exceutive Martin Bain’s brilliance in the transfer market, Sunderland fans are trying to get used to a lot of unfamiliar faces. The departure of Jordan Pickford, followed by that of Vito Mannone, had some looking around to see who in earth would play in goal. The choice has boiled down to two: the Dutchman Robbin Ruiter and the Newton Aycliffe lad Jason Steele. Here is a pro-Ruiter view, one that identifies the work he still has to do but also the potentially key part he could play in overcoming the malaise afflicting the team as a whole …
An abysmal first nine games of the seasons has been characterised by problems for Sunderland all over the pitch, and those troubles begin with the first name on the team sheet.
Having failed to keep a single clean sheet in the Championship so far, Simon Grayson needs a goalkeeper that can be relied upon to provide the foundations needed to start a recovery. But should it be Justin Steele or Robbin Ruiter between the sticks?
Colin Randall writes: The last time Mike Morris* shared his thoughts with Salut! Sunderland, it was mid-season (2013-14) and he was expecting a 14th top finish for City, bottom place and relegation for us. We drew at their place and then hammered them at home during the marvellous escape act orchestrated by Gus Poyet. They went down.
Mike, editor of the CardiffCity.com fan site, returns now with his team riding with along with Leeds and Wolves at the top of the Championship. He’s made his peace, emotionally, with the owner previously known as Public Enemy Number One, has a sharp dig at Sunderland fans who desert the stadium when things go wrong (music to Wrinkly Pete‘s ears, though his main gripe is with people leaving before the end of any home game) and offers an unwelcome view of the Wear-Tyne pecking order …
Salut! Sunderland: I honestly didn’t expect this to a top-bottom clash but it’s close. Despite the setback at Preston, you must be relishing change to join the Stadium of Light scalp-hunters
Mike Morris: As an eternal pessimist my gut feeling is that we will be come the first side not to get a result at the SoL this year. But my head says that we should be good enough not to lose the game.
Monsieur Salut writes: sincere apologies if you tried to come here last night and could see only a message saying the database could not be reached. Our contract is with GoDaddy – as I was reminded yesterday when the bill for another two years landed with a painful thud yesterday – and proudly announced this morning that maintenance work had been carried out. If this was the cause of the unannounced interruption in our service, they’ll be on the receiving end of a choice rebuke later on (update: it probably was, but GoDaddy says WordPress does the work and therefore causes the disruption …
Still no win at home this year (and still no mugs for the winners of previous Guess the Score competitions). I am working on the latter and can but hope Mr Grayson has a viable plan to correct the former.
As things stand, Cardidd fans have every right to be licking their lips at the distinct prospect of yet another smash-and-grab job for visitors to the Stadium of Light. OK, it is not quite bottom vs top but we start just one place above the drop zone whereas City are up there on the same points as the leaders, Leeds and Wolves.