Towards the end of Chelsea’s display of opportunistic flair and sheer stoicism to beat Barcelona and reach the Champions League final, one Kurt Sullivan sent a tweet that popped up on the BBC’s online coverage:
“Defending like Chelsea are right now is as much of an art as attacking. It’s as much a part of the beautiful game.”
(Image courtesy of Ben Sutherland)
There were several delicious aspects to last night’s richly entertaining game in which Chelsea beat Barcelona 1-0 to give themselves a sporting chance of reaching the Champions League final …
Pete Sixsmith queues at the Memory Bank and withdraws two priceless reminsiscences …
Pete Sixsmith is clearly being paid too much for his magical prose on these pages. First class all the way to London and back. But then nothing, with the apparent exception of at least one deserved point from the trip to Chelsea, is too good for the working class …
In his 5 Live interview, Martin O’Neill praised a “fantastic” second half performance but rued Sunderland’s ultimately costly wastefulness in front of goal. His post-match e-mail repeats the message …
This is where Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday experience. When, rarely, Pete is absent or delayed, a supersub does it for him and the seven-word verdict is preceded by an asterisk. Pete’s full analysis of the game will usually appear within a day or two.
Written off prior to this fixture last season, we stunned the footballing world by romping to a 3-0 victory so comprehensively deserved it had Chelsea fans drooling about the best away performance witnessed at Stamford Bridge since time began.
What will happen this time, with our club brimming with confidence after Martin O’Neill’s P7 W5 D1 L1 F13 A6 start? In an interview that should really have been conducted over mussels and chips, washed down with strong ale, Tom Van Watermeulen*, chairman of the Belgian branch of the Chelsea supporters’ club, sees one team scoring three this time, too. Sadly, that team comes first in the scoreline and we get only one goal if his prediction proves right …
Oops. A draft version of Salut! Sunderland‘s “Who are You?” interview with a supporter of Chelsea appeared here during the …
Well, we certainly hope we’re ready for Stoke. Last season, they came to the Stadium of Light after the mauling at Newcastle left Steve Bruce in need of a quick bounceback. He got one, courtesy of two Cashamoah £yan goals and the ref’s poor eyesight. How much more urgent is the need for a win tomorrow? Salut! Sunderland summarises a busy, unhappy (for us) week with plenty, too, to interest Chelsea and Stoke supporters …
The ink had hardly dried on last week’s review of the week before the inkwell was well and truly knocked over. Hours before the kickoff of Sunderland v Chelsea, we were hit with news of the loan deal taking Asamoah Gyan to the United Arab Emirates.
Somehow this turned a match in which I feared we’d struggle into an away banker, even though Gyan would not have played in any case because of injury. It was something to do with what the news told me about the spirit within the camp and, perhaps, the club’s own view of the big picture.
What did others – Blues fan included – make of the alleged Bardsley stamp? Was my own defence of him naive? STOP PRESS: see Fitz’s comment – no appeal, now confirmed by safc.com. which suggests we must accept the worst interpretation of the episode. There was, sad to say, no need for quotation marks around the word “stamp” in my headline …
One of the few Sunderland players to perform with consistency and unlimited passion over the past year or so has been Phil Bardsley.
I like to think of him as an honest player with shedloads of enthusiasm and courage. He has limitations but plays to his strengths as a solid defender who offers a bit of menace, and even a decent shot, when going forward. And he does it just as well if forced to play out of position.
But is there a dark side, too, to Phil? I hope not.
Image: Addick-tedKevin