Everton

Night time is prime time in Sunderland’s latest great escape bid

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Paul Summerside, with
Paul Summerside with better half Sharon, keeping the faith

The atmosphere at the Stadium of Light as Sunderland pressed for the equaliser against Crystal Palace, which Fabio Borini finally supplied in style, got Paul Summerside thinking.

Call it positive thinking, or plain old clutching at straws over post-match pints at the Avenue, but he reckons we are more fired up as a side in evening games, especially at home and when – as is usually the case as a season draws to a close – there’s a lot to play for. There’s one such game to come in the run-in -the still-to-be-rescheduled Everton home game – but Paul senses, maybe, more to come. He also takes heart from the competing priorities of some of the teams we’re still to play …

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Goodison Park: not quite “Welcome back to the sixties”

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John McCormick:
John McCormick:
child of the sixties

“Welcome back to the sixties”, said Pete as we entered the lower Bullens Road stand at Goodison. Pete likes the ground, as do most Evertonians. Bernard Walker, in an excellent “who are you” put it like this: “I absolutely love Goodison Park for all its memories, history and Leitch architecture, so would be very loath to move away.” 

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Everton’s Martinez and Deulofeu: what is right and wrong about football

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A man with previous?

Roberto Martinez is an admirable manager who appears to be doing an excellent job with Everton.

Everton, if their more high-minded supporters can bear to hear this, are a club Sunderland fans can identify with. And their club walloped ours on Sunday after we had flattered to deceive only to crumble in a manner with which we are all too familiar.

There is, of course, a “but” coming.

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Sixer’s Sevens: Everton 6-2 SAFC. From derby ecstasy to Halloween horror

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Jake: 'sort it out, Sam'
Jake: ‘sort it out, Sam’


Monsieur Salut writes: You don’t lose 6-2 by bad luck. Yes, we had some – two shots against the same post before Everton scored, a viable shout for a first-half pen – but this game was thrown away by defending as inept as you will see in the Premier or, dare I say, Ryhope Over 40s, League. After hauling ourselves back into the game, Defoe and Fletch cancelling out Everton’s two-goal lead and another chance going begging when we might have gone 3-2 up, we imploded. Every home attack seemed likely to result in a goal. Of course it will have entertained neutrals but we are not neutrals. Bring back boring football it stops attackers ripping our defence to shreds at will. Pete Sixsmith‘s options for his seven-word verdict tell their own story …

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Tomorrow Everton. Today, probably the best article you’ll ever read about Sunderland

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Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson

Salut! Sunderland settled back for another quietly inactive Saturday, the lull before tomorrow’s Goodison storm. So why, suddenly, were people coming to the site? We have ‘HarrogateMackem’ to thank, for drawing renewed attention at Ready To Go’s Pure Football forum.

SAFC fans who are otherwise rarely seen here flocked to the link and have posted some rightly admiring comments at RTG. So it seems fitting to bring back to a life at Salut! Sunderland one of the finest pieces of writing* to grace these pages. Apologies to those who have seen it all before (unless, like Monsieur Salut and quite a few others, they feel it lends itself to re-reading at least once a year: see the comments posted by our own readers in 2011 at https://safc.blog/2011/10/jonathan-wilson-the-candystripe-passions-of-grandfather-father-and-son/), when the article was headline ‘Jonathan Wilson: the candystripe passions of grandfather, father and son’. But Jonathan Wilson is a wonderful writer as well as supporting Sunderland and he proves both parts of that statement here …

Jonathan Wilson’s book on a Sunderland great

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Winning Sunderland, whining Newcastle and winsome Everton

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Jake: 'Sam on the road and Sixer too...'
Jake: ‘Sam on the road and Sixer too…’

When not watching clips of Coloccini barging into Fletch and maybe getting the wrong colour of card, Pete Sixsmith has been purring about the 3-0 win against Newcastle and hallucinating about a Geordie Nation campaign to force a replay.

Six-in-a-row has that effect. But can we make it three-in-a-row, three successive wins at Goodison? It’s a tall order against a good side, far too good to be only 11th and also far more likeable than most other Premier clubs, their friends across the park included. Sixer will be there, and at a Shildon game in the FA Vase the day before …

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