 Relegation poll results after the close of the summer transfer window |
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By now you must be getting bored with the graph above on the left, especially as it has been less than a month, and only three games, since it was last posted up.
Watford
Villa, Sunderland, Newcastle? Norwich, Swansea or Bournemouth? Not Watford, and ha’way Leicester
John McCormick writes: there’s no Premier League football this weekend, so it’s another chance to take stock and update my “relegation watch” series. If you’re new to the series and want to see how it began, or if you want to refresh your memory, you can try this link)
By now regulars should be familiar with the first graph. It dates from the close of the summer transfer window and shows our readers’ choices for the relegation spots. I’m putting it in once more so you can remind yourself how closely it resembles reality or, alternatively, so you can work out just what the clubs have to do to prove our readers right by the end of the season. If that’s too difficult you can jump to the end, where I’ve made it simple for you.
Sixer’s farewell to Pantilimon and Graham hails effort over achievement
The transfer window is an opportunity for some players to move on and restart their careers. And so it is that, while saying welcome to Jan Kirchhoff and Dame N’Doye we also say goodbye to Costel Pantilimon and Danny Graham.
Neither will be rated as amongst the finest signings the club has made. They will not be spoken of in the same awed terms that are reserved for the likes of Chris Turner or Marco Gabbiadini (48 today).
Sixer’s Substitute Soapbox: a view from the Avenue as Watford win
Malcolm Dawson writes….with Santa’s Advent timetable and the weather in Weardale conspiring against us neither Pete Sixsmith nor I made …
SA’s Essay: Big Sam rues missed chances against Watford
Malcolm Dawson writes….I find it hard to comment on games I haven’t seen live, but I was doubtful when I …
Hutch’s Patch: one word ratings as Watford take the spoils
Malcolm Dawson writes….today was the second time I have set off for the Stadium of Light and not made it. …
Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 0 Watford 1. Undone by all the old faults
Monsieur Saltut writes: deprived of Sixer – Pete was on Santa duty again – and deputy editor Malcolm Dawson, also absent from the SoL, Salut! Sunderland struggled to follow the game as much as the team struggled against a lively, well-drilled Watford side. There wasn’t even Barnes and Benno on local radio – some technical hitch presumably – but a decent stream was located to show exactly why Sunderland are in such trouble.
Sloppy play all over the pitch let the fans down after a woeful start that the Hornets sting in under four minutes. It improved when Johnson and Defoe came on and there were chances, but Watford might have doubled or trebled their lead as gaps were left, inevitably, at the back. The asterisk denotes the non-Sixer seven-word verdict (it’s mine) …
SAFC v Watford Who are You?: ‘your garden shed may be bigger than this, but …’
OK, he didn’t exactly anticipate the song our supporters will be singing at Vicarage Road later in the season. But our Watford ‘Who are You?’ interviewee Ben Clarke makes it clear that for him, stadium size doesn’t matter. And he has good cause to be happy with what he, among the regular 21,000 sell-out attendances, has seen so far. They have not only been getting some decent results, taking them to 10th place, they’ve also been easy on the eye. Ben doubts the club can maintain such a lofty position for any newly promotion side, but nor does he expect a serious relegation threat. Here are his answers to our questions. Ben expresses his views on football succinctly but he is a home-and-away regular so his opinions count. As for SAFC, he likes the club and feels Big Sam will save us, but only just …
SAFC v Watford: prizes for guessing where the goals will go in
Read on for how to enter. The prizes are a £10 Amazon Voucher, a copy of Football Manager 2016 or a Sunderland shirt (home, away or third)
Here is a neat little companion to Salut! Sunderland’s regular Guess the Score feature.
It comes from the Irish bookie Paddy Power, owner one of Monsieur Salut’s favourite radio voices, and is open, for prize purposes (see below for details), to a maximum of six readers. Any entries beyond six will be for fun only.
Sunderland v Watford Guess the Score: can Big Sam grab that fourth win?
Now is the time for Sunderland to get both parts of the package right: play well and win rather settling for gallant loser status.
After all the praise heaped on the team for a performance that deserved so much better than a 3-1 defeat, Ian Todd, a name synonymous with the London branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association, brought us down to earth a little with this tweet …
@salutsunderland High heads are all very well but we lost as we surely will at Chelsea and Man. City. #2ndbottom
— Ian Todd (@IanTodd17) December 7, 2015