A brave performance, said Gary Bennett. Much better, Pete Sixsmith agreed. And having clawed one goal back, we almost grabbed an equaliser (John O’Shea’s header) against one of the Premier form teams and title contenders. Salut! Sunderland salutes that effort. The test now is clear: take this level of passion into the home game against West Ham …
Jake’s lament: ‘three-something, we always lose three-something’
Pete Sixsmith is full of praise, as were the supporters, for the spirit and, often enough, skill shown by Kevin Ball’s men. We can moan about the latest in a string of Howard Webb decisions adversely affecting Sunderland teams. Bottom line, though, is another defeat with nothing in the forthcoming cluster if fixtures to suggest happier days arejust around the corner …
Well, at least we are consistent. That’s four league games in a row where we have conceded three goals leaving us with a goals against deficit that looks like a Royal Bank of Scotland balance sheet. That one of the goals probably should have been disallowed for handball is scant consolation.
Kevin Ball has good reason to be proud of the effort his team put into the game against Liverpool. Everyone expected us to lose and we did. But we were not as second best as 1-3 suggests and key decisions went against us for the first two Liverpool goals. All the same, that’s one point from six games with Man Utd up next. This is how Bally saw it …
Howard Webb has often had Monsieur Salut’s support when others would have lynched him. But he really does have a poor record against Sunderland, that astonishing penalty Steven Taylor conned him into awarding at St James’ Park, the non-existent foul on Leon Osman that gave Everton a penalty equaliser … Today, Sunderland’s defending was woeful for all three goals, but the first was scored off Sturridge’s arm, the second came immediately after Webb watched impassively as Toure took a great handful of O’Shea’s shirt in Liverpool’s penalty area. But no team concedes three goals as often as we do without there being a reason beyond the awful referring we’ve seen in the last two Premier home games from Webb and Martin Atkinson: such as Sunderland playing quite well, Liverpool being a somewhat better side. Pete Sixsmith will be reflecting in detail on all these matters. For now, here’s his seven-word verdict from the East Stand of the SoL …
And Jake does it in six: ‘no points but room for optimism’
Steph Jones*, an avid supporter of our next opponents, Liverpool, pops up in The Observer, along with Pete Sixsmith, when they want someone prepared to pontificate about their clubs for free. Salut! Sunderland is a bit the same with its invitations to the “Who are You?” hot seat, though we have more reason to expect it for nowt. Loved the succinct nature of her responses – some interviewees go on for yonks – but wonder whether she really, truly believes David Moyes will have to settle for a place outside the top four this season …
The latest in our occasional series that pokes Salut! Sunderland noses into the business of others …
Graham Poll was a referee whose apparent excess of self-confidence was often interpreted as arrogance. There was much gloating when his three-card trick – in fact it was one card, the yellow one he showed three times to Josip Šimunic of Croatia in the 2006 World Cup – signalled the end of his international career.
In truth, it was his decision to stand down, directly because of his error, and he refereed for only one further season in the Premier before retiring.
He now does an excellent and necessary job, commenting in the Daily Mail on controversial issues arising from match officials’ decision.
John McCormick‘s adopted home city, Liverpool, is now also Simon Mignolet’s. That won’t make John switch allegiance to the Scousers. But he understands why the Belgian was attracted by the lure of Anfield, faded as its glory may be …
