West Bromwich Albion

The Chapman Report from West Bromwich Albion: another new boss’s losing start

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Robert Chapman: 'when will we win?'
Robert Chapman: ‘when will we win?’

Once again, Bob Chapman stepped into Pete Sixsmith’s boots for the visit to WBA. And once again he provides an incisive assessment of what he witnessed, with an interesting having-it-both-way assessment of the one big controversy of the game …

Here is a Salut Sunderland quiz question. This report is the fourth in a sequence of firsts so what is it? For a clue the previous three were Swansea, Chelsea and West Ham.

West Bromwich Albion has the honour of possessing the highest league ground in England. I would have thought the likes of Burnley, Oldham and Bradford would be higher, but at 552 feet the Hawthorns is the highest.

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Pantilimon and WBA’s Berahino: Graham Poll clears the keeper, we say sorry

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Jake: 'M Salut's feeling a bit contrite, Costel'
Jake: ‘M Salut’s feeling a bit contrite, Costel’

It is possible to believe Costel Pantilimon needs to be much more assertive in the goalmouth, and to deal much more safely with crosses and long-range shots, but also acknowledge – however belatedly – that the West Bromwich Albion goal on Saturday was indeed the result of a foul. Or even two fouls.

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Sixer’s Sevens: WBA 1-0 Sunderland. Urgently required: a safe keeper

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Jake: catch Sixer's instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
Jake: Sixer went AWOL so for once it is Bob Chapman’s knee that’s jerking


Monsieur Salut writes: What can a manager do about the sort of error Costel Pantilimon made against West Brom, spilling a cross to give Saido Berahino a gift of a tap-in? Big Sam was as powerless as Dick Advocaat had been when Pants made an equally schoolboyish mistake to give West Ham an equaliser in the last match.

After a decent first half, that lead early in the second half was decisive and Sunderland lacked the guile or strength to get back into the game. A draw seemed a minimum requirement against another team in the bottom six. Pete Sixsmith was not there and the seven-word verdict, concentrating on the Hawthorns catering, is from his supersub Bob Chapman. James McClean proved again that he really is a bit of a prat, stupidly and provocatively going to the Sunderland support at the final whistle to wave a triumphant fist at them. Clearly he is not going to grow up any time soon …

BUT DO SAY SO if you feel I am being harsh on Pants and believe he was fouled…

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Tell us the team Big Sam should send out at West Bromwich Albion

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Jake: 'time to start winning but, above all, to stop losing'
Jake: ‘time to start winning but, above all, to stop losing’


It is pointless to say this is the Big One. Every game Sunderland play, probably for the rest of the season, threatens to be a big one unless we find ourselves in an irredeemable position – or, and now I am dreaming, safe in midtable after an extraordinary winning run – early in the new year.

Let’s just say WBA away is or could be a defining moment in the reign of Sam Allardyce. SAFC are in a mess and there is only so much time left to extricate us from it if relegation is not to become the foregone conclusion most pundits – and increasingly our Who are You? interviewees – think it is.

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The West Bromwich Abion Who are You?: thumbs down Pulis, and Sunderland

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Nathan Carr
Nathan Carr

Salut! Sunderland feels as if it is tracking the developing career of our young WBA interviewee Nathan Carr, owner of the popular @BaggiesGalore fan site. In his visits to these shores, he has risen from ‘aspiring sports journalist’ to ‘aspiring sports journalist with a growing media presence’. See the imprssive list of people he writes for below*. Nathan is always welcome here, even when he comes laden with gloomy thoughts about Sunderland, ahead of Saturday’s game at the Hawthorns, albeit expressed before Big Sam’s appointment …

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West Bromwich Albion vs SAFC Guess the Score: the latest adventure begins

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Jake: 'do it for Sam, do it for yourselves and do it for us, Lads'
Jake: ‘do it for Sam, do it for yourselves and do it for us, Lads’
To cries of “fix”, Joan Dawson walks off with the prize mug in the Name Sam’s Column competition.

The doom-laden entrants, at Facebook and Twitter in particular, just didn’t get Monsieur Salut’s ruling that unduly pessimistic titles would clash with the spirit of Salut! Sunderland. Of course we’ll criticise and grow despondent if things do not work out; for now, though, Sam Allardyce is our manager and he deserves, as of right, our support.

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Diving for glory. Is blaming foreigners jingoistic piffle, or sadly spot-on?

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Tom Webb
Tom Webb

Salut! Sunderland has been banging on for years about diving, the feigning of injury, unprofessional attempts by players to get opponents booked or sent off and other forms of cheating. The issue is raised with every “Who are You?” interviewee and I can think of only one or two who said too much fuss was made of it.

But should we really accept that British players are largely blameless, or that they were until they caught the nasty habits of Johnny Foreigner?

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Taylor Made: a BBC football version of This is Your Life

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Bill Taylor gets lost in stats
Bill Taylor gets lost in stats

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.

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