Ten years after starting the Manchester City blog Bluemoon as a quick project for a web design course, Ric Turner* is still at it. He loves his club’s new-found success, has no wish to return to underdog days, quite likes Sunderland again now Steve Bruce has gone and predicts a result going to script …
A pretty picture, but who are the Beauties and who are the Beasts in English football? Trust a Londoner to put Sunderland in the second category …
Noble is No 31 in ‘Vagueonthehow”s image
Martin O’Neill was there, and so was Pete Sixsmith was there, as the happy text messages confirmed, as Ryan Noble hit four more goals for the Reserves the heartening 6-3 win over the once-mighty Reds of Manchester United. So a great new hope for Sunderland’s future maintained his prolific record; the wonder is that the newly fallible United didn’t leave the Eppleton Colliery ground with him tucked in their pockets. …
Manchester United did some preparatory work for Thursday night football and the Europa League as the Red Devils roadshow came to a windy and chilly Eppleton CW last night. TV gantries, a huge double decker bus and a technical team that would have almost filled the stand, never mind the dugouts, all bore witness to the presence of the self-styled “world’s greatest club”.
Another review of the week has Salut! Sunderland looking back over the past few days – and, for ruby-tinted reasons, …
On one level it doesn’t matter, indeed it is entirely correct, that no rules were changed to enable Sunderland to win a penalty for handling the ball. But if another level exists, you can trust Pete Sixsmith to find it before lauding a giant of football …
Let’s imagine the conversation between the referee Lee Mason and his assistant Jake Collin round about 4.30 on Saturday.
Collin has put his flag across his chest to indicate a penalty for Sunderland.
As he tends to do after every game, Ian Porter from the Blackcats list has come up with an astute summary of the positives and negatives of yesterday’s 1-0 defeat …
Tomorrow: Pete Sixsmith’s Old Trafford verdict …
Well, this wasn’t the total whitewash I was anticipating.
It was what I’d hoped for though, which was to give a good account of ourselves. I don’t think we were playing ManUre at their best, but that shouldn’t detract from what was a very good team performance.
We were on the defensive for long periods, but we closed down well and Westwood wasn’t troubled that often. Equally though, we created a couple of chances ourselves to score.
Westwood pulled off the nearest I’ve seen since Monty’s save in ’73. I was really pleased by Westwood’s performance. I think the writing’s on the wall for Craig Gordon, but I think if he isn’t offered a new deal in January, he can leave on a free ? TBH, I think whatever he’s offered, he’ll turn it down and leave anyway, so we’ll lose out on a couple of million I guess.
Steve Bruce still cannot win as a manager against Manchester United. In his post-match e-mail, he praises a good but losing performance …
Dear Colin,
With the penalty shout the right decision was made. There wasn’t any real clarity on it even after seeing a replay.
It was a handball, we could all see that. Ultimately we’ve got no complaints.
It’s such a shame for Wes [Brown] to score on own goal; we seem to make a habit of conceding own goals at Old Trafford.
This is where Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday …
Whenever we remember to do it, Salut! Sunderland likes to offer a summary of the week just gone by. Most readers know by now that there is usually plenty more than is flagged here. Have a look up and down the sidebars for links to other material you may have missed …
Drawing at home to Aston Villa felt like a victory to some, given our late second equaliser, and two dropped points to others, who felt we had been comfortably held by an average side.
After the points squandered against West Brom in the previous home game, it was not the ideal result to set us up for Old Trafford today even if it stretched our very mini unbeaten run to three.
Pete Sixsmith’s magisterial account of the game – click here – was followed by a reminder that cheating in football is by no means restricted, as xenophobes like to believe, to foreigners. Unless you somehow work out that being born in Erdington, Birmingham to Nigerian and Scottish parents makes Gabriel Agbonlahor any more than being called Gabriel makes him angelic.
Whenever M Salut has been to Old Trafford, it has been to see Sunderland lose, from hidings in the league to that dreadful surrender to Millwall in an FA Cup semi. Pete Sixsmith, who was there when we last won a game an awful long time ago, has urged a bold approach tomorrow; others, at the Blackcats list, have done the same – even though the risk of another of those hidings would rise accordingly.
A slight technical hitch affected access to the site earlier this week so I have decided to repeat a few of the questions and answers – those relating to our club as opposed to his – from the “Who are You?” feature in which a Canadian United fan, David Tack, predicted a 2-0 victory for the Red Devils. Sadly, some SAFC supporters would probably take that margin of defeat now. It is up to the Lads, whatever formation and tactics Steve Bruce chooses, to show that is an unduly negative outlook … if you wish to see David’s answers in full, including his intersting thoughts on Sir Alex, the thrashing by City and football cheats and role models, click here …