Sunderland

Leicester Who are You? defending Sri, acclaiming Defoe, missing Kante a little

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Brian Archie sports his Leicester top in a school photo from 1991

 

Monsieur Salut writes: it goes from bad to worse to boorish. Not content with his share of the blame for leading Sunderland’s downward charge to the Championship, our boss is caught – thinking he is off-air – snapping at a BBC reporter, Vicki Sparks, and threatening to give her ‘a slap even though you’re a woman’. Her crime? Asking an entirely legitimate question after the Burnley goalless draw about any extra pressure Moyes may have felt with the owner Ellis Short present for the game. Reports suggest there was no obvious humour in the remark’s delivery. The manager should add to his apology, already given and accepted, a substantial personal donation to a charity of the reporter’s choosing.

Now on to Leicester. Our ‘Who are You?’ interviewee Brian Archie’s* hope for the game, a 2-1 home win, is unlikely to improve Moyes’s mood. The Watford defeat means we can survive only if we do on Tuesday what Leicester did exactly two years ago and begin a sequence of something like seven wins from nine remaining games …

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The Chapman Report: Watford and gap take on new meaning for Sunderland

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Robert Chapman: ”

We went into the weekend with only the faintest of hopes. Surely the Lads couldn’t fire yet another blank. They’d be really up for it, for the two wins in four days that might, just might spark revival. Robert Chapman, standing in once again for Pete Sixsmith, saw the reality. Another lame defeat and the Gap grew wider at Watford. Robert looks back on a match that seemed, despite the premature mathematical interpretation, to dump Sunderland into the Championship …

So it was April Fool’s Day; a day for surprises and stunts. Could Sunderland possibly call all the pundits wrong, get three points and embark on the next great escape?

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Sixer’s Sevens: Watford 1-0 Sunderland. Au revoir to the Premier League?

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Another meek surrender

Monsieur Salut writes: Nothing is actually settled. Losing 1-0 to Watford, deservedly as well, does not relegate Sunderland. But we know the game is up. We just aren’t good enough to do what Hull did in routine home game today, what Palace under Big Sam managed at Chelsea. A decent Borini shot late on and a pathetic strike by Januzaj (from am excellent position; Gary Bennett said it looked more like a backpass) was all we mustered. Pickford stopped it being worse, Pete Sixsmith stayed away; the seven-word verdict is Bob Chapman’s and see his stand-in Soapbox report here …

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Watford Who are You?: fondly remembering SuperKev, Rostron and Colin West’s hairdo

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Del Day: ‘hey love, was thinking we could name our daughters Blissett’

Colin Randall writes: not everyone will share this thought but I needed cheering up on Wednesday. Getting back to sunshine in Marseille helped (as did the cost of the trip, return flight from Stansted at four euros each, the outward journey having been only 14). Then I saw our Watford interviewee Del Day‘s Facebook update: ‘Revolution anyone?’ Sixer would approve of that one. Del, when not feeling political and cross, runs an independent music publicity company, Ark PR, a small booking agency, Big City Lights, and the Maiden Voyage record company. He adored Graham Taylor to the extent that both his daughters have Taylor as middle names, his wife having baulked at calling them Blissett. Over to Del*, with some terrific thoughts on old player links between our clubs and a gloomy prognosis on our current condition …

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Jordan Pickford on his goalkeeping heroes: De Gea, Lloris, Hart and Schmeichel

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Jake: ‘Keep ’em out, Jordan’

Monsieur Salut writes: we’ve acclaimed Jermain Defoe. So has the country at large. Pete Sixsmith’s Observer Q+A talked of a man who, at Sunderland AFC, had enhanced his reputation as a striker and – through his quite beautiful bond with Bradley Lowery – as a man.

Pete’s piece, reproduced in expanded form here, briefly mentioned the other positive from our truly awful season: the superior goalkeeping of Jordan Pickford, albeit interrupted by a midseason injury layoff.

Jordan deserves and will probably attain the status of England’s Number One. He may well do it while keeping goal for a club other than the one he has always supported, SAFC. That is his right, maybe even a personal duty, as a pro. I wish him well and, while regretting that Sunderland are unlikely to provide the platform for his ambition, will follow his progress much as I follow Jordan Henderson’s.

Here are some excerpts from an interview with Jordan (P), speaking to EASPORTS.com to mark his EA SPORTS FIFA 17 rating being upgraded (that’s a football video game for the unitiated). To read the full interview, go to https://www.easports.com/uk/fifa/news/2017/jordan-pickford-interview …
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Observed: Defoe’s England glory, Sunderland’s endless gloom

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His goals would have kept us up if only Moyes had got us to defend. Can it still happen?

First, heartiest congratulations to Jermain Defoe, for opening the England scoring with a trademark finish against Lithuania. In a wretched season for Sunderland, he has brought rare shafts of bright light. And recalled by Gareth Southgate after 1,465 days in the international wilderness, he ‘rolled back the years to show England what they have missed,’ according to The Guardian‘s Dominic Fifield, with little Bradley Lowery present to complete a heartwarming night. Enjoy the clip, below, while it lasts – and sadly the same can probably be said about Jermain’s sparkling Sunderland career.

Now on to the reason we probably have only 10 games left to enjoy the sight of Jermain in our colours: Pete Sixsmith is a regular in those view-from-the-stands round-ups in The Observer. They like his contributions, he – rightly – likes The Observer so it is a perfect match. But just as relegation for Sunderland will means relegation for Monsieur Salut from his little slot with ESPN, the Observer will not be calling quite so often if at all for the thoughts of a Championship team’s supporter. Here, on Pete’s calculation of what the paper will still want from him this season, is his penultimate offering ‘before we disappear into the Championship for goodness knows how long…….’

Salut! Sunderland challenges David Moyes to prove Sixer wrong. It would make our summers …

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Past glories: priceless American description of Tommy’s penalty save versus Newcastle’s Shearer

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Ye olde days, even before Tommy secured our 2-1 win at SJP

Monsieur Salut writes: people sometimes tell me, whoever they support, that they like Salut! Sunderland because it tries to bring smiles to people’s faces. No matter what! There is no football, apart from Sunderland’s Ladies Team in their SSE Women’s FA Cup semi-final cup game against Chelsea on Sunday, between now and Watford away.

So, hardly Ten Years After, rather 17, but will this cheer us up a little?

Between Facebook chats about good and bad referees and other things, an old Newcastle-supporting journalistic acquaintance, Terry Pattinson, and I found ourselves briefly discussing the Tyne-Wear derby of 2000. The context was my assertion that players make many more mistakes at work than refs. I couldn’t resist mention of the Alan Shearer penalty saved by Tommy Sorensen to ensure our three points. And nor could I ever forget the way an American friend, who attended the match with me, later explained the key moment to his equally American girlfriend.

Since we won’t be playing Newcastle next season – and feel free to interpret that as us somehow staying up, them somehow missing out – it seems worth another outing. It originally appeared at ESPN in 2013, just ahead of the Di Canio 3-0 win at St James’ Park in April 2013. Please bear in mind it was written for a largely neutral readership …

If there are sufficient responses to this article, on any related topic, the best – chosen arbitrarily will get a mini-version of the Nick Barnes Matchbook, whose publishers will pay £5 of the price into the Bradley Lowery fund. A winning Newcastle-supporting contributor will be offered a NUFC-themed mug instead, with Salut! Sunderland paying the fiver into Bradley’s fund)

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Wrinkly Pete’s Crystal Ball: can SAFC’s safety bid really get back on course?

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Peter Lynn, aka Wrinkly Pete


Monsieur Salut writes: with another long wait for our next game, and David Moyes’s next doom-laden post-match reaction, it is once again time for Peter Lynn, aka Wrinkly Pete, to update his series based on the points tally he rather optimistically predicted for Sunderland.

The original preamble is beginning to look a little dated so I shall re-arrange the text to start with Pete’s thought on the Burnley match and its impact on his calculations…

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