Malcolm Dawson writes….I got a text from Pete Sixsmith this afternoon. It read “sitting having a drink of tea in …
Salut! Sunderland cannot pretend to know what substance there is to speculation that Dick Advocaat has resolved to leave tomorrow evening if Sunderland fail yet again to record a win.
With any luck, Salut! Sunderland will be back to normal or something like it very soon. Sam, our West Ham-supporting …
Monsieur Salut writes: please once again accept apologies for the dismal look of Salut! Sunderland. Our web guru is doing what he can to restore the site to normal after yesterday’s complete breakdown and we are pretty much in his hands. Pete Sixsmith doesn’t worry himself too much with technical matters, except in assessing SAFC’s glaring technical deficiencies. He thought we did OK in the first half until a slick United move cut us open and gave them a HT lead. A second goal 40 seconds into the second half ended the match as a contest and the third was no surprise. Catts did OK but Jake’s caption spots the obvious missing link ..
Unlike the Tele/Torygraph when the IRA attacked Canary Wharf in 1992, Salut! Sunderland has no headquarters to bomb. It is the product of blokes who support Sunderland but live in true Mackem diaspora fashion in the south of France, on Merseyside and in Spain as well as in the North East.
But the impact of a wretched systems issue is there for all to see if they come to these pages today and remember what they looked liked on Thursday.
SALUT! Sunderland is very sorry that the site was unavailable yesterday and that it appears to be making only a gradual return towards normality. The servers said “emergency” maintenance was needed but are notoriously bad at keeping people informed. This posting was therefore wasted yesterday so here it is again …
Beating Manchester United on their own ground is not impossible, even for Sunderland.
Some, like a Netherlands-based reader Paul Devine, remember the last-but-one actual victory at Old Trafford very well.
“Against Best, Law, Bobby, Paddy and the rest, no one gave us an earthly … I was there, transported on a Roberts bus (apostrophe or no apostrophe) from Wingate to Stretford.”That was in this game’s Guess the Score competition and Paul went on to predict the same scoreline for Saturday.
Jordan Street* is just 23, a home-and-away Man United supporter who comes from the city and is as passionate about his club as it’s possible to be. See his blog Old Trafford Faithful or his tweets at http:///www.twitter.com/otfaithful. We’ve often been fortunate with the quality of our Man Utd Who are You?s and Jordan’s is no exception. He likes Sunderland for being northern, thinks we have a decent enough squad but fears Dick Advocaat is not the man to keep us out of trouble. We completely forgot to ask which of our players he wouldn’t mind seeing in United colours but he did try to make us feel better about 1-4 to Citeh by recalling a more humiliating scoreline of United’s own …
There is, of no course, no truth in the rumour that the venue of Sunderland’s visit to Man Utd on Saturday, while still at Old Trafford, is being moved half a mile to the much older cricket ground to reflect the likely scoring pattern.
Dick Advocaat’s finest could even shock us. But then anything short of an emphatic defeat would probably shock most of us.
Before we get on to Pete Sixsmith‘s bleakly compelling report from the 4-1 home defeat to Man City, or even …
Monsieur Salut writes: first there was anger at the ref, then disbelief at how easily Sunderland’s defence can be ripped to shreds. The van Aanholt foul, idiotic as it was, happened on the edge of the penalty box (I thought). Free kick, not penalty. Borini’s goal was harshly disallowed. Two borderline decisions, both going against SAFC. That’s the end of the justified anger with the referee Roger East. Then came disappointment. Toivonen – later to score – had a strong header brilliantly saved, after a terrific Yedlin run and cross, but City immediately swept upfield and scored a second, Kevin De Bruyne’s finish looking better than Vito Mannone’s unconvincing attempt to stop it. O’Shea had a wonderful chance to nod home from a corner. Then Mannone fluffed a cross, Sterling hit the post and the rebound hit the keeper and went in for an own goal. Along came a fourth and half time was still 10 minutes away.
‘This is the first “good” side we’ve faced and they’re strolling,’ said Pete Sixsmith. ‘We look reasonable going forward but they are just picking us off.’ That was at 2 or 3-0. His later thoughts were more devastating (see below for three versions of his seven-word verdict) but at least Toivonen’s consolation goal meant we won the second half …
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