Gus Poyet rightly hails a fabulous winner and a grand team performance. He cannot quite share our tribal passion but he gets it! Read his post-match e-mail to Monsieur Saliut, and a few other delirious fans, and feel his joy …
Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox
Malcolm Dawson writes…..the first outings for my thermals today and they meant I could more or less enjoy the game. Sixer and I speculated on the walk from car to ground why Gus might have preferred Jozy to Norman Stanley and felt it might have been a strategy to nullify the threat of the pony tailed Geordie at set pieces. Like Gary Bennett we both would have preferred the Anglo Scot leading the line from the off but in Gus we trust. We played OK against a decent side. Jozy could have been a hero but his reaction as he walked off at half time made it clear that he knows he fluffed a huge opportunity. Gus thinks we played OK too as he explains in his post match e-mail to M Salut and others but like us knows too that one point a game is not going to be good enough.
Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox
Dear Colin,
I believe that we did enough to win the game, especially because of the way we were playing and the opposition.
We didn’t have too many chances against Chelsea or Liverpool, but today we had plenty of approaches, plenty of shots and plenty of opportunities to put the ball in the box in a better way. We passed it, we had corners and we couldn’t find a way. We had opportunities to pass the ball inside the box to players that were free, we had shots that were blocked and we hit the stand so there were many things that we didn’t do well in the final third, and that is something we have been missing.
I think we defended [Andy] Carroll in a great way because he couldn’t really find that freedom to go and have an easy chance. We stopped [Carl] Jenkinson and [Aaron] Cresswell from putting hundreds of balls into the box, so there were plenty of things that we did well and there are things we can work on.
I was a little bit disappointed we couldn’t make a final change because I was trying to get Will Buckley on and take a risk, but we had Anthony [Reveillere] take a knock in the second half, which was a little bit frustrating.
I thought Wickham’s chance was in at the end; we were throwing everything forward and getting close.
When you are beaten as comprehensively as at the Stadium of Light last night, there is no point in looking for excuses. Man City were much, much too good for us. Gus Poyet saw that and knows his job is to avoid demoralisation affecting the approach to another tough task, Liverpool away on Saturday. Here’s his post-match e-mail to Monsieur Salut and thousands more …
Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox
Monsieur Salut writes: Take a look at young Keir Bradwell’s marks out of 10 for Sunderland’s team, and the comments beneath his piece, come back tomorrow to see what old(er) Rob Hutchison made of it and even look at what I had to say at ESPN and you’ll soon accept that everyone views a game differently. Roberto Martinez, a manager I admire hugely, needs to be told that no one who brings Osman back to the stadium where he kicked the ground with no SAFC player in sight, claimed a pen and got one can ever complain about refereeing. But some things stand out and no one seems to dispute that Seb Larsson, so often criticised, had an outstanding game (I’d say another outstanding game). Let Gus Poyet sing his praises in his post-match e-mail …
Malcolm Dawson writes…..it’s part of the manager’s job to be upbeat and seek out the positives. He couldn’t quite do that last week but is back in the groove after two of the most schoolboyish of errors cost the team a point and bit more composure should have seen the Gunners punished for their own keeper’s howler. Were there any positives? Gus thinks so as his post match e-mail explains. You’ll get my views tomorrow as I fill in on Pete Sixsmith’s soapbox.
Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox
Gus Poyet writes to Monsieur Salut after every game. It’s not the most exclusive of communications, going to thousands of other Sunderland fans, too. This is what he made of our exit from the Capital One Cup, robbing us of one of our chances of another trip to Wembley. Sixer’s Sevens spent the night with no access to the Comments section. This was not intentional – the site’s system was playing up, also preventing uploading of Jake’s images – but, as Salut! Sunderland’s deputy editor, Malcolm Dawson, said, this was perhaps no bad thing. Gus was more upbeat …
Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox
John McCormick writes: This morning I was still hoping I’d get that phone call to tell me there was a spare ticket. I was ready for a last minute rush but I’d have got there. Was I lucky or not? Even our esteemed manager accepts it wasn’t the best game in this, the post match e-mail he sends to our equally esteemed editor and maybe one or two others …
Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox
Gus Poyet accepts Sunderland made a poor start but is delighted that the goals finally came. Stoke at home in the next round sounds winnable, too. Here’s the boss’s post-match e-mail …
Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox
Gus Poyet, in his post-match e-mail, strikes a justifiably optimistic note. He also singles out a really bright positive to take from the game: the sparkling wing play of Will Buckley. Our new boy’s battle with Blackett was intriguing, but Buckley was its winner. Now let the boss speak for himself …
Jake captures the Bard, with thanks to Owen Lennox
John McCormick writes: I was hoping to make this match but it was not to be and I had to make do with a dodgy feed. When we scored I thought ******, then they scored twice and I thought ****** again, but for different reasons. And then when hope was dying our Viking proved he was worth his new contract with a point-saving goal and I thought ****** once more, this time because two midfielders had scored and that’s a bit of a novelty.
Two forwards scoring would be a bit of a novelty, too, I think. It’s time Fletch and Jozy showed their worth.
That’s enough of my thoughts, what about the manager’s? Here they are, as sent directly to M Salut in his personal post-match e-mail: