Ian Porter offered this instant analysis at the Blackcats list soon after the final whistle at the Reebok – an impressive blend of realism and approval …
We totally dominated the second half, but didn’t really make out possession and domination hurt too much.
Mignolet kept us in the game with a good save, but wasn’t really bothered much apart from that.
Defensively, I thought all the back four looked solid. Richardson’s had his critics, myself included, but he played well today.
This is where Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday …
It has been a difficult week. Losing at Arsenal, by a single goal margin, was no disgrace. But another defeat, …
Pete Sixsmith is back from Orkney. He is pleased he went, but would lose little sleep if he never went back. Will we all be losing sleep tomorrow night? BE POSITIVE ….
I have returned. I am back at Sixsmith Towers, the several layers of clothing peeled off and the bindings to protect the outer extremities unwound – no madam, not that one!!
It would not be true to say that Orkney is the most exciting of places to visit. There are no trees. There is a lot of wind. The capital, Kirkwall, is as lively as Heighington on a Wednesday night. It’s not a place where the jet set hang out – so The Brucester may well consider it as a place to retire when the curtain falls on his managerial career at The Stadium of Light – May at the latest.
Bolton v SAFC. Salut! Sunderland is – or will soon be – on the road (Orkney to Co Durham, the shores of the Med to a chillier London) and may go quiet for a day or two. Readers’ comments remain welcome; we all know what is at stake. Thefreelancer* is the pseudonym of a Bolton blogger – check out the Bolton Wanderers Blog and Website – who also recognises an important game when he sees one coming. Here are his answers to the “Who are You” questionnaire …
Walloped 5-0 in the FA Cup semi at Wembley last season, and 5-1 at home by Chelsea the other weekend but 4-0 winners at QPR. When the real Bolton Wanderers stand up, what do we actually see?
I don’t think any Bolton fan currently knows who the real Bolton Wanderers are, unless they are prepared to admit that we are nothing but a bottom of the league team with little chance of finishing above 18th. For those of us with a little bit of hope in us, I think we believe that there is a decent bunch of players in there who, given the correct formation and a good kick up the backside, could drag us out of the mire within a few weeks. However, that could prove easier said than done. We have conceded 21 goals in our last six league games and we look clueless going forward much of the time – a deadly combination if ever there was one.
Why has Pete Sixsmith abandoned non-league football, the paqes of Salut! Sunderland, his cat Samson and – just days ahead of Bolton away – the intensive psychological training considered essential for those planning to attend SAFC games?
What are we to read between the lines of a mysterious text message sent from what was meant to be a secret location detached from the British mainland?
Regulars at Salut! Sunderland know the drill well enough.
We try as best we can to tell it how it is from the moment one match finishes until it seems right to suspend hostilities/stop gloating (usually the former, alas) and get behind the team for the next one. We try not to be, in the never-to-be forgotten words of one reader, a cauldron of negativity.
M Salut’s preference for leaving the momentous decision until we’ve completed our October AND November games was already controversially kind. One down after 28 seconds, without a forward on the pitch, it was looking almost irresponsibly benevolent. Pete Sixsmith, hardly a kneejerk Bruce Out man, is rapidly losing faith …
As I placed my well upholstered bottom on my well upholstered Ashburton Grove seat, I sat back in anticipation of a battling performance against an out of sorts Arsenal side.
Rather less than 60 seconds later, bottom was out of seat as Mignolet picked ball out of the net after Les Gunners had carved us open down the flank and the imperious van bloody Persie swept home a goal of breathtaking quality. Not quite the start we had hoped for, was it?
He annoyed us by starting without a forward and nearly nicked a point. A Song renamed Cattermole might have been sent off. But it all went to script in the end (as it might have done a lot earlier). Steve Bruce‘s post-match e-mail regrets missed chances, but points to positives …
Dear Colin,
We had an awful start, just like the West Brom game, but again we showed enough resilience and fight to get back in the game.
It’s just a shame that [Robin] Van Persie, a world-class player, came up with piece of magic at the end. He is worth the entrance fee alone.
This is where Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday …