Would you settle for a Sunderland defeat at Southampton on Wednesday, ending our interest in the EFL Cup, and a home win on Saturday? Me too, if your answer was yes.
Of course, wins in both games would be even better. But whereas beating the Saints would be nice enough, and stir dreams of a return to Wembley at the end of February, we are desperate for another kind of victory: the sort that brings three points and gives us hope that all may not after all be lost.
Monsieur Salut writes: I had another good stream, poor Pete Sixsmith was there as usual. We came back from an abysmal start, had the best chance of the game Khazri) and then lost in the dying seconds. Reid’s shot was from a long way out but two West Ham players were standing in offside positions ahead of Jordan Pickford. Interfering? Looked like it in one case. Nitpicking? Maybe – and I certainly think referee Bobby Madley had an outstanding game. Another defeat but, like Sixer, whose customary seven-word verdict you see below, I feel we deserved a point …
What a busy lad Pete Sixsmith is. Not content with his paper round, Father Christmas duties (planning starts tonight) and gracing the pages of Salut! Sunderland, The Observer and ESPN, he finds time to answer questions for fan sites such as Claret and Hugh, friendly Hammers folk who have helped us out, too. Here’s what Pete made of their questions …
Over at Salut! Sunderland’s Facebook pages, Jim Minton posted a message saying how much he liked the Who are You? interview with David Blackmore, editor of the West Ham fan site Blowing Bubbles.
‘He seems pretty sensible and I agree with most of what he says,’ Jim wrote, ‘Don’t know yet whether many West Ham fans have picked up that lots of other supporters now dislike them a bit more than they used to – which is a shame because I’ve always thought of them as a proper club with good fans.’
Jim’s point, and the occasion of Sunderland’s first visit to the little-loved London Stadium, seemed a good excuse to hark back six years to a piece by Pete Sixsmith, prior to a game at Upton Park …
Keeping goal is sometimes a thanked task but, as often, a thankless task. Humans err and this applies to goalkeepers at all levels, as Monsieur Salut and Pete Sixsmith can confirm from personal experience, albeit long ago. Sixer now describes how what happened to us down the rec (Shildon’s splendid recreation ground) or on the playing fields of King James I Grammar and Woodhouse Close Sec Mod can also happen to a Portuguese pro …
Monsieur Salut introduces another prize Guess the Score before embarking on a long trek through France, stopping for some disgusting but delicious andouillettes in Troyes on the way and arriving back in the UK on Wednesday night, ready for anything life throws at him (including tickets for Arsenal at home and Bournemouth away) …
Monsieur Salut writes: I had a good stream and watched a poor Stoke side made to look efficient by as inept a display as I can recall (well at least since the last inept display). Pete Sixsmith had a tougher day, up early to travel to the Potteries and see yet another abysmal performance which, he said as the last seconds of stoppage time ticked away, suggested a team that will be adrift without a hope at the bottom come Christmas …
Malcolm Clarke* is the latest in a long line of amiable, forthcoming Stoke City supporters to grace these pages. He is realistic enough a supporter, as well as being a passionate representative of fans generally as chairman of the Football Supporters’ Federation, to recognise the the odds are probably against his beloved Stoke winning the Premier League title any time soon. But he does believe they’ll survive this season, and – perhaps no surprise here – that Sunderland won’t. He also tells us about his association with Neil Baldwin, Stoke’s ‘marvellous’ (read on) but most implausible media star …
Even a site that professes relatively little interest – on the part of its main contributors – in international football can stand back and applaud when England call up a player who is not only a Sunderland team member but “one of our own”.
Jordan Pickford therefore carries Salut! Sunderland‘s warmest congratulations into Tuesday’s World Cup qualifying game against Slovenia.
Around this time of every year, there are certainties we take for granted. The calendar will tell us it is October, trees shed leaves, shops advertise Christmas as if it’s only next week and Sunderland supporters still await a first win of the season.
We generally don’t draw too much comfort for we have actually won twice, because there is something distinctly hollow about beating lower league opposition in the League Cup when you can barely pick up a draw in the Premier League.