Championship

Sixer’s Sevens. Wolves 0-0 SAFC. Point made – and a good one

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Jake: ‘it’s not always pretty’

Pete Sixsmith

Monsieur Salut writes: Bob Chapman, standing in for Pete Sixsmith (absent on Santa duties), has the sort of home-and-away record of attendance at SAFC games that cries out for a gong in the New Year’s honours list. Today, he saw a valiant backs-to-the-wall display by Sunderland that won an unlikely point at the league leaders Wolves. I had only Nick Barnes and, as another stand-in, Marco Gabbiadini to go by but they seemed as impressed by the resistance as they were appalled by the inconsistency of the referee Jeremy Simpson, sending off Catts as much for being Catts as anything else and missing a number of Wolves challenges of at least equal culpability to the two that earned Catts’s yellows. Look at our Who are You? series: so many of this season’s interviewees say refereeing is poor at Championship level

Marco rated the shifts put in by O’Shea and Wilson. Both he and Nick Barnes saluted an overall performance that, taken on its own, offers modest hope … as Bob’s verdict shows …

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Wolves Who are You?: ‘fond of Sunderland but you’ll suffer a mauling’

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Not a photo of Andy, but his sentiments

Andy Nicholls* , moderator at the Wolves fan site Molineux Mix, is another old friend to this site. Seven years ago, he appeared here for a joint interview with a Sunderland-mad Silksworth lass, then his partner. They are no longer together but still speak.

Andy is naturally as thrilled by the football he is currently seeing as we are dejected by what has befallen SAFC. He lived on Wearside for a time and retains happy memories, which are described below, leaving a mark strong enough to make him look for our score once he knows what has happened to his own team, though he feels we’re in for a pasting on Saturday (as Wolves bounce back from winning only 1-0 away in midweek!)

PS Jody Craddock is aware of – and appreciates – Andy’s kind words …

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SAFC vs Reading Who are You?: Vito’s ‘incredible professionalism’, McShane’s steel

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Anthony Smith: a boy from the Welsh Valleys with a soft spot for Reading. Photo: Chris Forsey

Monsieur Salut writes: what’s the betting on Chris Coleman making his home debut as Sunderland manager with a win against Reading (and football accumulator pages may well be the place to find the answer)? After the relief of the win last Saturday – our first league victory since mid-August and only the second of the season – there is pressure to make it two-in-a-row but also a degree of momentum and the confidence winning brings to any team. To Newcastle fans, that translates as thinking beating Burton is roughly the same as winning the World Cup.

 

Our Reading Who are You? interviewee, Anthony Smith, warmly recommended by Terry Pattinson, a New*as*le supporter who has previously done the honours and may well do so again unless we go up or down), covers Reading for Berkshire newspapers. He’s grown to like the Royals despite roots in South Wales – his club is Swansea – and an inexlicable fondness for Spurs. He overcame a formidable workload to find time to answer our questions. I couldn’t have taken it solely on the word of Terry, a Mag let’s face it, but Anthony comes across as the top bloke he said he was – and he clearly knows his stuff …

 

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Burton Albion Who are You?: Brewers’ ‘Pieman’ says we can both beat relegation

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Dave Child: ‘sorry – don’t you go using this photo as a dartboard’

 

 

Dave Child* is a fan of the old school. Burton Albion through and through – ‘who are Derby County?’, he asks when pressed on the competing attractions of other local teams – he was among the 11,000 travelling fans who made Old Trafford less of a library than usual for a cup replay. And he’s an epxert on the pies served at football grounds and hostelries that welcome away fans (if you;’re going, scroll down to see which one Dave thinks you’d enjoy). 

And what was he doing with Paolo Di Canio? Interviewing him for local radio when PDC was Swindon manager and they played Burton…

Salut! Sunderland:  stuck with us in the relegation zone, Burton would probably be expected to struggle even if neutrals would love them to survive. How is it looking for you?

Dave Child: yes we are in our usual position and not really surprised, the aim as we head towards the festive fixtures is to stay out of the bottom three, then come January Cloughie can work his miracles in the loan market bringing in Gareth Bale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and make a late charge for the play offs!

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Burton Albion vs SAFC Guess the Score: what could possibly go wrong?

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Read on: not just another mug for the winner

Just look at the home and away table. Two wins, a draw and six defeats at home, nine goals scored but 21 shipped.

What a catastrophic home record for any professional football side.

How could any away team and its wonderful support go to the Pirelli Stadium, capacity all of 6,912, without a spring in the step? Sadly the away side at Burton on Saturday is us, our home record makes theirs look quite respectable and we haven’t a clue where the next win is coming from.

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Sixer’s Aston Villa Soapbox: neither a bang nor a whimper

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Jake: ‘here’s the one report you should read, Chris’

Chris Coleman is unlikely to see this at all and, should he accidentally find himself at this page, still less likely to feel any need to heed Pete Sixsmith‘s advice, sound as it is.

But who would bet against the new manager reaching pretty much the same conclusions at our Sixer, who certainly reads the game of football as well as some of our past 11 managers (which takes us back only as far as Niall Quinn). Pete was at Villa Park. He saw what he saw, not a bad performance but one lacking midfield strength and punch against barely impressive opposition. It is pointless to talk about Burton on Saturday being a must-win game since we rarely win anything billed as such, but the thought will have crossed other minds …

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Hutch’s one-word ratings after Aston Villa defeat: who was drab, who was ‘crablike’?

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Rob Hutchison: master of the one-word verdicts

Monsieur Salut writes: had I been able to make it – up for me, from London – for Chris Coleman’s first game in charge, I would have met up with not only Peter Sixsmith but Rob Hutchison and his daughter Olivia, all three familiar figures around these parts. My apologies for absence reached the Hutchisons as they – also heading north from exile – drove towards Birmingham.

At one down, as the second half started, Rob thought there was so little between the sides that Sunderland could go on and win if only they could first equalise. Cue a second Villa goal.

Here, then, is one of those Hutch specialities, Rob’s one-word man-by-man verdict (he described the whole experience as ‘drab, drab, drab; oh, it was so drab’ and will one day explain why Gibson was ‘crablike’) …

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Sixer’s Sevens: Aston Villa 2-1 SAFC. Coleman sees measure of his task

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Jake: ‘it’s not always pretty’

Pete Sixsmith saw Chris Coleman’s managership start in painfully familiar fashion, yet another bright start undone by yet another piece of sloppy defending. The upshot: the simplest of conceded goals for Villa’s Adomah, albeit after the ref arguably ignored a foul on Matthews that started the move. Ten minutes gone, one down. Had Robbin Ruiter, so fortunate to keep his place after handing Millwall two early Christmas presents on Saturday, even seen the ball up to then? ‘Goalkeeper suspect again,’ muttered Sixer. Gary Bennett praised the shape – 4-1-4-1 – and the buildup but was worried about the final pass, the final shot and the failure to cover at the back. Sixer bemoaned our lack of physicality.

All the above was written before half time. The second had barely begun before another Villa -mah (Onomah this time) made it two, his shot massively deflected by Browning. There seemed no way back. Lax defending, lack of finesse and a spot of misfortune: Coleman was perhaps seeing our season so far encapsulated in one more losing game.

Then he saw how important Lewis Grabban is to our modest hopes when the striker on loan from Bournemouth snatched one back. We prayed for that flash of skill or touch of luck that might save the game. It didn’t come.

Sixer saw glimmers of hope. Come back for his considered view but read on for his instant seven-word verdict …

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Coleman’s challenge: turning football’s laughing stock into reasons to be cheerful

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Jake: ‘time to rise to the task’

Beyond blind faith, a commodity in large if diminishing supply among Sunderland supporters, perhaps the main source of hope for an unexpected victory at Villa Park is the power of new manager bounce.

But what a fillip it would give to the demoralised faithful to be able, for only the second time this season, to celebrate the final whistle rather than be left ruing missed chances and the inability to defend or even obtain a lead.

Even a draw at promotion-chasing Villa, denying bragging rights to Steve Bruce, as beastly a bête noire to Sunderland fans as they come, would be encouraging and – with a visit to lowly Burton Albion next up – give new complexion to match previews for this weekend.

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Choose Sunderland’s next manager: at least one O’Neill in the frame

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Jake: ‘you don’t talk to the likes of us, Ellis, so how can we be blamed if we get something wrong?’

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

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