Salut! Sunderland whinged the other day about the fans who were already, after the surrender of a two-goal lead in the opening game (and, in some case, even before the season started), raising doubts about the quality of our squad.
It hardly excuses us that we at least had the decency to wait until after the second game.
Fingers crossed that it’s true: we naturally hope at least one other signing will be made before the transfer deadline at the end of the month (that goalie crisis rings a bell), but this could prove to be the deal of our close season ….
SEE UPDATE, WITH OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION(-ish) IN THIRD COMMENT BELOW
The one person who should know whether or not a player has signed for Sunderland is the player himself.
On that basis we ought to be shouting from the rooftops in praise of Steve Bruce and Niall Quinn for clinching the return of John Mensah to the Stadium of Light.
NB: Apologies if you found Salut! Sunderland inaccessible while our friends at Footballunited.com carried out site maintenance in the early hours of Fri Aug 6. They promised it was all in a good cause.
So the season’s a third over, we’ve struggled at home and failed to win away. Steve Bruce’s new signings have proved deeply disappointing and the quality of play is generally abysmal.
Then, you might argue, would be the time for the boo boys to vent their anger at the manager and his team. If they thought it would do the least bit of good.
In all the current transfer talk, one subject occupiesColin Randall ‘s attention more than most: the future of a player who excelled in South Africa, just as he did – when fit – for Sunderland last season. The signals from the Stadium of Light are mixed …
Steve Bruce was in understandably dismissive mood when presented with a list of the players he is allegedly trying to sign.
One thing you learn quite quickly, if you’re a football fan who also reads the papers, listens to the radio and watches TV, is to take transfer talk with a lorryload of salt.
We’ve heard so far that Steve Bruce still isn’t convinced by Craig Gordon, which would handily explain our supposed interest in keepers most of those who saw Gordon last season would consider inferior. Then we’re told one or two of the Big Four (or is that Five, Six or Seven now?) have their eyes on Scotland’s and our No 1. Mmm.
The team has been ordered to Mr Sixsmith’s study. They fear the worst after that dire mid-season run, the unfulfilled promise, the indiscipline and the damp squib of a season’s ending. But no, Sir is in a good mood. He sees really encouraging signs. Here, in our final review of the season, those signs are assessed by a man who has provided exemplary analysis of Sunderland AFC week after week …
We would all agree, I think, that the season just gone has been an improvement on the last two. I think that we would all agree the dip in mid season was worrying. I think we would all agree that the disciplinary record has been poor and needs to improve.
So, let’s try to put a different slant on 2009-10. Let’s look at where we were four years ago and let’s look at where we are now in the overall context of the Premier League.
The unfinished business of the season, the FA Cup Final, does not directly affect us (though Chelsea and Portsmouth fans …
In the second part of his look at Manchester United’s season, Sunday’s game and the meaning of life, Justin Mottershead gives Sir Alex a vote of confidence, tells of a recent encounter with Denis Law, makes passing mention of George Best and berates Salut! Sunderland for remembering David Bellion but inexplicably overlooking Mr Bruce or Mr Evans among men linked to both clubs …
SEE PART ONE, including Justin’s match forecast, BY CLICKING HERE
Salut! Sunderland: Would the Carling Cup and nothing else this season, if it came to that, represent abject failure in your eyes and would that be the time for Sir Alex to stand down?
In short- yes and no. Yes winning the Carling Cup alone is not a successful season at United no matter how you look at it and no Sir Alex should stay on until he believes he’s no longer physically up to the job. He’s always managed to bounce back from a poor season and I’m sure he’ll do the same this time round.
Pete Sixsmith was pulled up here by a Spurs fan (Telboy) for suggesting in his Observer match verdict that it could have ended Sunderland 6 Tottenham 1. What Telboy couldn’t have realised was the Pete also said it might have been 3-3 (that less sexy bit being cut out). We shouldn’t be greedy, but there’s no denying 6-1 was strictly speaking feasible (two missed pens, one disallowed goal) and would have been very nice indeed …
It crossed my mind to use “Broken nose Bruce slaughters Flannel faced ‘Arry” as my seven-word summary, but I felt this might upset the sensitivities of any passing Spurs fans, so decided on the more prosaic words you can find elsewhere on this site .
It was a wonderfully exciting game of football and if Ellis Short and Niall Quinn wanted to present any wavering renewers with a good reason for parting with a wad of money for next season, then this game provided perfect ammunition.
There’s plenty to say about the three penalties, about the two of them that Darren Bent missed, about Sunderland’s impassioned display, about Anton’s disallowed goal, about Bolo Zenden’s cracking volley.
But a lot of that has already been discussed here in the previous posts. And Pete Sixsmith has hardly had his say yet.
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