Rumours ????
— Adnan Januzaj (@adnanjanuzaj) August 13, 2015
All may not be going quite to plan in the attempts by Dick Advocaat and SAFC’s sporting director Lee Congerton to tie up the remaining transfer business.
Sunderland
SAFC v Norwich City ‘Who are You?’: a Canary sent from Coventry
This has happened before, but only once I think. Paddy Davitt* sees Norwich City week in, week out. He feels the emotion when they win, was thrilled by the Wembley playoff win and ‘cares a great deal about Norwich’s fortunes’. But he is not a fan. Paddy is the chief Norwich City writer for the Archant media group that includes the Eastern Daily Press. But he supports that infamous bête noire for Sunderland supporters, Coventry City. I think we had a WBA ‘Who are You? interviewee who was in a similar position (reporting on Albion, not being a supporter), though he didn’t declare his true allegiance. See what Paddy made of our questions (posed before we knew of his footballing preference) ahead of a match he predicts the Canaries will win, leaving us pointless and – he believes – doomed along with Watford and Bournemouth …
SAFC v Norwich City Guess the Score: time to bounce back
Nice and early again, here’s the second Guess the Score competition, with or without a prize, of the new season …
Amid all the gloom following our latest no-show, this time at Leicester where the consensus appears to be that we got two back only because City were by then cruising, there has at least been the excitement of the Great Sixer Debate (see the comments at https://safc.blog/2015/08/au-revoir-mvila-new-signing-sees-red-in-norwich-semi-rehearsal/, which can be summarised as Dan Tilley vs The World).
Taylor Made: a BBC football version of This is Your Life
Bill Taylor came across a nifty new BBC tool allowing fans of all Premier League teams to calculate their clubs’ performance during their lifetimes. Fellow Sunderland supporters – and others – are invited to have a go and report back any interesting findings …
There’s no evidence to support this, but George Santayana, the Spanish/American writer and philosopher, COULD have been at Wembley in 1937 to see Sunderland clobber Preston North End 3-1 in the FA Cup. Santayana was certainly in Europe at the time.
And the saying he’s most famous for could well be applied to the Black Cats and their long-suffering fans: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
For those of us who have trouble remembering what happened last week, let alone a few decades ago, the BBC’s football website has unveiled a magical new tool to jog our memories.
A bientôt, M’Vila. New signing sees red in Norwich semi-rehearsal
Monsieur Salut has already – a little gloomily – speculated that next Saturday’s game at home to Norwich may be the season’s first relegation six-pointer. He also had a conversation with a French acquaintance who remembered almost every detail of Yann M’Vila’s fall from French international grace.
Leicester left Pete Sixsmith in downbeat mood, too, but not enough to put him off scuttling back from the Midlands to catch a Sunderland Under 21s match – against Norwich. He saw a win but also an embarrassing start to M’Vila’s SAFC career …
Sixer’s Sevens: Leicester 4-2 SAFC. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Whatever we hoped or expected from Dick Advocaat’s new-look side, it was pretty much as you were at Leicester. Three down in 25 minutes, only Costel Pantilimon standing between City and a hatful by half time and the team in utter shambles. Has Jeremain Lens a clause allowing him to leave by the end of August? First Defoe gave hope, then Fletcher, with their second half goals. But Leicester looked dangerous with every attack and Monsieur Salut takes no pride in seeing that his predicted starting XI was spot-on, since it was also fairly useless. Pete Sixsmith was there, as so often, to take the pain – and this, ahead of his considered view, is his instant, unhappy verdict …
Leicester City (3) 4 SAFC (0) 2 No encouragement to take from this shocker
Off we go: Ha’way the Lads at Leicester, the Lasses v Liverpool
Let’s start on a positive note. Our first game of the 2015-2016 season is unlikely to be anywhere near as bad as the equivalent fixture (Leicester away) last time. Or the return game at the SoL for that matter; not a hint of a goal in either match.
‘Can we have midtable mediocrity like Manchester United under Moyes?’
Under the heading ‘VIEW FROM THE ENEMY: Sunderland fan on Wes Brown, signing Januzaj and Big Dick’, the in-demand Pete Sixsmith gave some straightish answers to Scott the Red, from the Man Utd fan site Republik of Mancunia …
It’s FootbalI Not Soccer: Sunderland, Newcastle, Norwich, Stoke and Southampton previewed
It is fair to say Pete Sixsmith does not care greatly who wins the Premier League title, at least not while we seem not quite up to the challenge ourselves.
So do not be surprised that he gives a different answer to the question depending on when he is asked.
Ten things Sixer wants for Sunderland (and others) in 2015-2016
Fresh from his media blitz – video clip for The Guardian, Total Sport on BBC Radio Newcastle –
Pete Sixsmith climbs back upmarket to share with Salut! Sunderland readers the 10 things he’s hoping for in the coming season …