"I hope they don`t sack Bruce, it`s taken f****** months for the Kenwyne song to take off" - Eddy Clamp, Stoke City supporter at the Oatcake fan site
"Tried to volley instead of heading it, couldn't sleep for weeks afterwards." Danny Dichio on his missed sitter in the Charlton playoff final (as explained to Rob, again at Twitter)
All is well down on the south coast. A new ground, an impressive manager (Gus Poyet, ex Real Zaragoza, Spurs and Chelsea midfielder) and, following promotion, a great start in the Championship. And now they have us in the Carling Cup at a time when the anti-climax of derby day has us down in the dumps. Fatboy Slim ignored our approach but David Smith*, a blogging Albion fan, proved an able substitute. He must a real fan since he even attended “home” games when that meant regular treks to Gillingham. David (who probably watched SuperKev on Saturday, doing twice – again – what our strikers cannot) senses victory …
Back in the second tier with a winning start, Gus Poyet gaining plaudits as manager, new ground, us at home in the cup. How could life be better?
Does life get any better? Honestly, it’s never been so good on the south coast for the Albion. Even when we were playing the old first division (cue some people screaming at me about the ‘good old days’) I don’t think it’s ever been this good! Everything’s coming up Brighton at the moment and it’s fantastic.
The Mag hordes have departed, taking with them the smug smiles we can but wish we had been wearing since 2pm on Saturday. On my own reckoning, there must have been 15,000 visits over the weekend from Newcastle supporters eager to gloat. And they didn’t even buy a mug between them! As for Sunderland, we now face an important week on the road, with effective performances a must at Brighton and Swansea. But first of all, let’s have another look at football across the Channel…
Three games into the French season, Steed Malbranque has finally had his first taste of Ligue 1 football since the move from Sunderland to St Etienne (might a touch of his creativity made a difference on Saturday?).
Is this your dream shopping trip? It could be, if all you want is a brand new Salut! Sunderland mug. The good news is that overseas readers can now buy these first items to appear at the Salut! Sunderland Shop.
The morning after. As we bid farewell to the thousands of gloating Mags who headed here yesterday, (and we’d have been smug, too, if we’d won), Pete Sixsmith has plenty to get off his chest and does so with customary eloquence, warning Steve Bruce that the rumblings in the stands are gathering force …
Three times in Steve Bruce’s time as manager have we played our Tyneside neighbours and three times we have played in a manner that can, at best, be called disappointing.
Of the three, this was the worst. Last October was a one off, January was a game in which both sides were so awful that it can quickly be consigned to the far recesses of memory. But this one was different.
Blocking the more mindless Toon comments was quite enjoyable, delighted as I am that literate and/or decent NUFC supporters come here in such numbers (AGAIN: only have to mention NUFC and you get a swarm of them).
This was the day we wanted revenge for that humiliation – two humiliations really – of last season. Losing at home is always bad, and we did plenty of it last season. To lose at home after all the assertive pre-match talking up of our determination, our desire is worse. And to lose at home to Newcastle United, with an abject second half display that wouldn’t have threatened Hartlepool Reserves, is the stuff of despair. Steve Bruce e-mails us, and a few others, with his own post-debacle thoughts …
Dear Colin,
We’re massively disappointed.
The domination we had in the first half and the chances we created; we needed to score and take advantage of the opportunities we had and if you don’t score you don’t win a football match and we’ve been punished.
We are back. Pete Sixsmith captures the glory or shame, hope or despair, excitement or ennui of each Sunderland game. And suddenly, after a decent start at Anfield, everything is gloomy again: defeat at home to Newcastle United. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him and the seven-word verdict is preceded by an asterisk. Pete’s full analysis of the game will appear soon. A match report appears here.
The full Sixer’s Sevens archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there …
Aug 20 2011 SAFC (0) 0 Newcastle United (0) 1 Totally outfought in dismal second half display
Aug 13 2011 Liverpool (1) 1 SAFC (0) 1 Came back well, better side second half
To see Sixer’s Sevens in full, click here. If an asterisk precedes the comment, the words that follow are the work of someone else because Pete is for once absent from the game or his verdict has been delayed …
So, we get a great crowd, a proper sense of occasion, bags of anticipation, a bright enough start – and then a total flop.
For all our efforts in the first half, which might on another day have produced a goal or two (but also a sending off for us and a goal for Newcastle United), we barely turned up for the second.
Ouch! Mignolet’s desperately poor positioning allows Ryan Taylor’s free kick from the elft to sail over him. One-nil to the Mags and that was how it stayed.
The first 45 were busy, niggly and mostly dominated by Sunderland. But arguably neither Seb Larsson nor Yohan Cabaye ought to have finished the half, and Newcastle should have gone ahead, massively against the run of play, with a penalty.
Salut! Sunderland‘s look back on the week just gone may not appear every single Saturday – it is a useful guide for the busy reader but also time-consuming – but resumes with links to much of what has been written here about the Liverpool opener, Joey Barton’s antics at St James’ Park and today’s Derby …
Time for all posturing and pre-match boasting to end. Kickoff is only a few hours away and some of us may be ecstatic, others despondent, come 2pm.
The derby has made it a busy week at Salut! Sunderland. But the flurry of activity here began with the ultimately satisfactory draw at Anfield.
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