Monsieur Salut writes: I rely tonight on Benno and Barnes who acclaimed Sofiane Boufal’s wonder goal that beat us, praised Djilobodji for perhaps his best game since signing, considered Ndong ‘awful’ and agreed our first touch and passing were generally poor. No Pete Sixsmith this time so it is a substitute Seven …
Monsieur Salut presented a brief argument in favour of sticking with David Moyes at this link. Rob Hutchison has already made the case more strongly here
We both knew our views would be controversial. And so it has proved. Some good, robust replies point legitimately to shortcomings in Moyes’s brief reign.
Fresh from much-praised exploits at the San Siro (despite a defeat) and in the draw at the Etihad, Southampton naturally fancy their chances against Sunderland in the EFL Cup 4th round on Wednesday. A hearty welcome to Aidan Small*, a budding sports journalist who owns www.freshsaints.com even if he does think we’re doomed to relegation without the consolation of further interest in the League Cup after the visit to St Mary’s …
Pete Sixsmith is likely to be quiet for the next few days – see his explanation below – but, a glutton for punishment after his West Ham awayday, was keen to take in one more match first. The lure of Sunderland Under 23s overcame the disincentive of the weather. Time well spent? Let Sixer enlighten you …
While the missus watched X Factor – and why not? – Rob Hutchison sat down, tried to forget the disappointment of Sunderland’s last-gasp defeat at West Ham and put into writing his thoughts on a first footballing visit to the London Stadium…
We’ve had far too many must-wins and crunchers and season-deciders. They usually they turn out to be nothing of the sort.
So let us just say the Guess the Score for Stoke City v Sunderland is open to all, Stokies included, and carries a prize.
Monsieur Salut writes: the review section of the UAE newspaper I write for, The National, has a feature they call The Long Read. I’ve done it a couple of times – from the Jungle in Calais and on Muslim writers threatened by fanatics for having a progressive instead of medieval outlook. It came to mind when I was posting Andrew Caulton’s ‘Who are you?’ interview. A passionate West Bromwich Albion fan exiled in the USA, Andrew goes on a bit, but then so do my questions. And I found his replies engrossing.
As a postscript, I reminded him he had promised a photo showing his brother and Paolo Di Canio at the infamous WBA v SAFC game that was to be PDC’s last in charge. He searched high and low for that picture now and it has now been been added to this follow-up …
Monsieur Salut writes: Every few months, a satellite US radio station Sirius XM, asks me onto a late show (late for me) to talk about the latest woes afflicting Sunderland. That is where Andrew Caulton*, an Englishman in New Hampshire with fingers in lots of football pies, heard me (twice). We met again at Twitter, where he revealed his lifelong West Brom allegiance and readily agreed to sit in the ‘Who are You?’ hot seat. His recollections of the 1973 cup run and of coaching Calum Davenport, who played for us on loan, are priceless.It is another long read but Andrew seems the sort of bloke you could happily natter with for hours in the pub …
Hands up anyone who is looking forward to Saturday.
In fact, there’ll be plenty. Support, loyalty, passion often transcend the lack of serious expectation. David Moyes and his team have made an abysmal start to the season, the sort that gets managers sacked in panic reaction from owners.
Anyone who watched the otherwise one-to-forget Everton match on the TV, and plenty of those inside the stadium, will have had their hearts warmed by the sight of little Bradley Lowery, the SAFC mascot for the game.
Bradley is fighting a form of cancer called neuroblastoma and needs costly treatment in the USA. A good piece about the way sporting and other personalities, from Jordan Henderson to Katie Price, who have rallied to the cause appears at the Sunderland Echo site, this link