Monsieur Salut writes: Pete Sixsmith returned from Santa duties to Salut! Sunderland duties, expected little by way of Ho Ho Hos and – after praising a competitive approach – rued the ‘shambles’ of the defending leading to the Fabregas winner, well taken as it was. Sunderland had chances – two to an improving Januzaj – and PvA was within a whisker of snatching a last-ditch equaliser, a great shot superbly saved by Courtois. We missed Anichebe ……
Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
The ripoff 0871 phone line is no more, at least for people calling SAFC. Few will mourn its passing.
Salut! Sunderland can claim no credit, beyond having drawn the issue to SAFC supporters’ attention, but let us applaud today’s announcement from the club.
Monsieur Salut writes: what a massive win. Jermain Defoe added to Robert Huth’s own goal to provide the cushion, a fabulous last-minute save from Jordan Pickford cut Leicester’s recovery short and the return of Jan Kirchhoff and Seb Larsson was crucial to the second-half breakthrough.
Pete Sixsmith had donned red and white, headed up past Durham and then … those with memories of his activities this time each year will know what happened next. He carried on due north to the chosen location for his Santa duties. These took him not to the game, but to the dark side of the Wear-Tyne divide, safe in today’s kind of red and white. Meanwhile, A N Other chips in with the seven-word verdict …
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Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
Most of us are currently looking no further than Saturday’s visit from last season’s unexpected (but welcome) champions Leicester City. It is game Sunderland really need to win. But even the mighty boost to morale that a victory would bring would then subside if we went to Swansea a week later and fell to fellow strugglers. With that in mind, a new writer to us, Rachel Johnson*, looks at what the experts are making of that trip to South Wales …
Jake: a logical result, makes Leicester at home rather important
Monsieur Salut writes: Pete Sixsmith gave this one a miss so I am the the stand-in for his usual seven-word verdict on a game in which we looked just about able to avoid defeat for 75 minutes. It took a clever piece of play by Divock Origi to break our strong resistance led by John O’Shea and Lamine Kone and we might even have snatched a lead against the run of the play with earlier chances that fell to Pienaar and Watmore. Ndong’s late foul that gave Liverpool a second from the penalty spot looked needless but probably didn’t change an outcome that by then seemed inevitable. No dishonour, then, but we were not able to bridge the quality gap …
Monsieur Salut writes: At 15 Mark Bradley* is the youngest ‘Who are You?’ interviewee in the history of Salut! Sunderland. Although we take pride in the quality of this feature, it would not be hard to identify a few examples that showed considerably less maturity and vision than is evident from Mark’s replies.
Like us, he is under no illusion about the significance of Saturday’s game to both clubs and sets of supporters. Concentrating on SAFC, the season does not end if we lose; we are not safe if we win. But the need for three points is pressing, a second successive win that would make climbing out of danger seem less daunting a challenge. We should be grateful to have another struggling side as opponents after finally breaking our duck but, as we so often say, this is Sunderland and we shall see. We thank Mark for his willingness to take part in the discussion …
It’s a little like a game in itself. Paul Summerside puts a longish post on the Salut! Sunderland pages at Facebook, knowing I’ll often enough bite and republish it here. And my old pal Barry Emmerson chips in, too. If I didn’t have this distraction from writing about Islam in France or political turmoil in Lebanon, I’d probably go mad. Both comments were in response to mention of this week’s Guess the Score …
We have been wanting a chat with Nick Barnes and Gary Bennett for a while. In some ways an unlikely pair, the tweed-loving culture vulture with a passion for the countryside and a former player and manager, fondly remembered for the sheer commitment he gave in red and white, who eschews tweeds in favour of the heart he wears on his sleeve …
Tony Merakli, on the far left, with like-minded pals
Hats off to Tony Merakli, editor of the Arsenal fan site Gunnersphere, for stepping in gamely at the last minute when we were let down by his counterpart at another Gooners’ blog. Tony fears, as do most ‘Who are You?’ interviewees these days, that we’ll drop but believes we are a massive club whose fans deserve so much better. He also has a liking for ‘that Watmore kid’ but thinks we are in for a heavy defeat against his side on Saturday …
