Here, in the continued absence of young Keir Bradwell (family commitments), Rob Hutchison again casts a minimalist view over the man-by-man SAFC performances in the spirited draw at Anfield. Monsieur Salut agrees with most, not all …
Pete Sixsmith took a break from Sunderland-supporting duties and for once missed a game, though the beneficiaries were those children back in County Durham who caught his ho-ho-hoing as Santa. Meanwhile at Anfield, with Sixer keeping tabs on the sleigh radio, it was as if Man City never happened as the Lads carried on the good work of the game before, at home to Chelsea. Just another goalless draw but is was a decent game, with chances especially for Connor Wickham, and Sunderland were utterly deserving of the point …
Dec 6 Liverpool (0) 0 SAFC (0) 0 Ho ho ho: a well deserved point
Dec 3 SAFC (1) 1 Manchester City (2) 4 City’s hoodoo ended, aided by poor defending
In truth, being a softy when it comes to players I like who have moved on, I’d be happiest of all to see Simon Mignolet play a blinder and Jordan Henderson score to cap a fine all-round performance for Liverpool. But Mignolet’s saves would just keep the score down and Hendo’s late screamer would be a consolation. Three-one to the Lads, a win built on our own abilities and an exceptional team display.
But Wednesday has left a lot of us feeling a little flat, even if Liverpool are not quite Man City.
John McCormick writes: Tony Fay and I were colleagues once but our paths diverged a good few years ago and I didn’t know whether I’d be able to contact him or if he’d want to take part in the Who are You? series.
I’m glad to be able to report that I was and he did as Tony, with apologies to Blackadder, is redder than a red squirrel which fell into a bucket of red paint at a Simply Red concert. Here’s his view on all things Liverpool, and some things Sunderland:
The only way forward is to forget the most recent past. Let’s all regard SAFC 1-4 Manchester City as if it were another country, some minor detail of history (as Jean-Marie Le Pen once described the Holocaust). Just get out there at Anfield and rattle a few cages again.
Can we bounce back? Can we pressurise Simon Mignolet into making one or two of those unforced errors of his, or reduce Jordan to his ineffectual, own goal-scoring self of earlier in the season?
Rob Hutchison is a glass half-full kind of man. But he struggled to find much reason to applaud what he saw from the Sunderland side’s uneven contest with the aristos of Man City. Lee Cattermole got closest to a good rating but even his 6/10 reflects a display way short of what he’d produced against Chelsea …
When you are beaten as comprehensively as at the Stadium of Light last night, there is no point in looking for excuses. Man City were much, much too good for us. Gus Poyet saw that and knows his job is to avoid demoralisation affecting the approach to another tough task, Liverpool away on Saturday. Here’s his post-match e-mail to Monsieur Salut and thousands more …
Pete Sixsmith was less happy at half time than he had been on Saturday evening. For ‘more of the same, please, Lads’, it became a blunt admission that Sunderland were making costly errors at both ends. It was to continue in similar vein, especially at the end it mattered – ours – and, if truth be told, we were outclassed and walloped …
Dec 3 SAFC (1) 1 Manchester City (2) 4 City’s hoodoo ended, aided by poor defending
Colin Randall
writes: Alex Sargent* will have been a happy man after his beloved Manchester City went to St Mary’s and made the gap between our respective results at Southampton a whacking 11 goals. We could counter with Schalke (0-5 Chelsea) followed by Sunderland (0-0, Chelsea arguably riding their luck). But Wednesday brings a new game, a new challenge. Can we keep up the frankly astonishing sequence of 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 and 1-0? Can we carry on where we left off last April when Sunderland were desperately unlucky not to win the game that ended 2-2 – they’d already been fortunate at Wembley (no way back, I’d suggest, if Borini had buried that second chance)? We’ll see. Now let Alex – who has family links with Wearside – speak for himself …
You don’t get long to rest on your laurels in the Premier League.
In a fairer world, Sunderland would have had a week to bask in the glory of the invigorating and much-praised performance against Chelsea. Or there’d even be an international break with Roy Hodgson putting away those blinkers and handing Lee Cattermole his first full England cap.