What do Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa, Adam Lallana, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria and Lee Cattermole have in common? Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Jack Colback, also in the list.
Each has been chosen as his club’s star performer of the season so far by the team of bloggers who write about Premier League football at ESPN. That team includes Monsieur Salut.
Like most Sunderland supporters, I want to see new faces at the club. I want the summer to produce arrivals of men genuinely capable of improving the team, and a few more departures would be something I could live with.
Malcolm Dawson writes…..Fans of the radio show “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue” will know that one of the long …
Malcolm Dawson writes….as I left Heritage Park on Friday night, having witnessed Bishop Auckland’s 4-0 trouncing of Wembley bound local rivals West Auckland, Pete Sixsmith said to me: “We could well be safe this time tomorrow if results go our way.” “We can but dream,” I thought, fully expecting Wednesday to be the evening when we could be certain of survival, but I repeated the sage’s words to another group of Sunderland fans who were discussing the significance of the past fortnight on the walk to the car park. I was hopeful that Poyet would have the team organised, that the upsurge of confidence that has come from who knows where since the Tottenham game and the resurgent Wickham could get us a point. But all three? We’d seen what the new manager effect had done to Norwich and Old Trafford is a ground where success has been notable by its absence since the days of Sir Matt Busby’s team of Stepney, Charlton, Stiles, Best and Crerand. For our ace reporter yesterday was one of those performances which reminds him why he sits through so much dross. Sixer looks back on a day to remember, the like of which he hadn’t seen since high jumpers were still using the straddle technique and a change of government in an independent Eastern European country led to Russian interference.
Malcolm Dawson writes…the manager has every right to be pleased with the form of his team just now. A couple …
Malcolm Dawson writes….The result at Southampton brought us some Christmas cheer but if truth be told I wasn’t full of …
Stephen Goldsmith writes: I refuse to get too carried away with all the doom and gloom just yet – as tempting as that may be! You certainly won’t be hearing me shout for a change in management amid all this poor show of form. The national media are particularly mystified as to why the Sunderland fans are keeping their patience with O’Neill, in an almost identical manner in which they were mystified as to why we wanted their pal Bruce out last season. Double standards springs to mind. The crux of it all is that last season’s mini-revival highlights the amazing impact that O’Neill had when he came here. Who can argue that the Ulsterman’s arrival resulted in a below average squad performing above themselves? They have now plateaued and it isn’t pretty. Had Bruce still been here we would be playing Championship football, a fact which nobody should doubt.
M Salut
offers some advice to Martin O’Neill on the fines he may wish to consider imposing after yesterday’s defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory at Molineux …
The competition – click here – to come up with a new name for Martin O’Neill column at Salut! Sunderland is still open.
OK, the new manager does not yet know he’s to have one. But whether he chooses to sent out post-match e-mails or rely on simple statements and comments, his thoughts will be distilled on these pages just as Steve Bruce’s were.