This is the full list of seven-word verdicts on each Sunderland game by Pete Sixsmith, Salut! Sunderland‘s peerless chronicler and sage. They appear as soon after each final whistle as we can manage (which sometimes may not be as soon as we’d like), and should be seen here and at a posting updated after the match. If an asterisk precedes the comment, the words that follow are the work of someone else …

Dec 4 2011 Wolverhampton Wanderers (0) 2 SAFC (0) 1 More points sacrificed through weak, sloppy defending

Nov 26 2011 SAFC (1) 1 Wigan Athletic (1) 2 *Bruce’s reign surely over after this debacle. That was M Salut’s verdict, followed by these from Mr Sixsmith: “Shambolic defending spells end for Bruce now”, “He must go after another clueless performance”, “Got what we deserved after brainless display”, “Pressed the self destruct button yet again”, “Second half shocker means Bruce’s time’s up” and finally “Print them all”.

Nov 19 2011 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (0) 0 Truly appalling game lacking pace, creativity, threat

Nov 5 2011 Manchester United (1) 1 SAFC (0) 0 Decent performance but slipshod defending cost us

Oct 29 2011 SAFC 2 (1) Aston Villa 2 (1) … Determination and effort produced a fair result

Oct 22 2011 Bolton Wanderers (0) 0 SAFC (0) 2 … Team selection vindicated in impressive second half

Oct 16 2011 Arsenal (1) 2 SAFC (1) 1 Defended bravely but attacking options barely existed

Oct 1 2011 SAFC (2) 2 West Bromwich Albion (2) 2 Deserved point after a truly horrendous start

Sept 26 2011 Norwich City (1) 2 SAFC (0) 1 Absolutely no positives to take from this

Sept 18 2011 SAFC 4 (3) Stoke City (0) 0 What a difference the right selection makes

Sept 10 2011 SAFC (0) 1 Chelsea (1) 2 Comical defending hands Chelsea their regulation win

Aug 27 2011 Swansea City (0) 0 SAFC (0) 0 Uninspiring game. Both teams look like strugglers

Aug 23 2011 Carling Cup 2nd Round: Brighton & Hove Albion (0) 1 SAFC (0) 0 Abysmal team selection got what it deserved

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

(more…)

Almost every week Pete Sixsmith offers his inimitable seven-word verdict on our games. Even when a great start at home to Chelsea ends in tears. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him. The full archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there …

Feb 1 2011 SAFC (2) 2 Chelsea (2) 4 Cracking game deservedly won by arrogant Blues

Jan 22 2011 Blackpool (0) 1 SAFC (2) 2 Excellent first half but tight at end

Jan 16 2011 SAFC (0) 1 Newcastle United (0) 1 Bacon saved by Gyan but scarcely deserved

Jan 8 2011 FA Cup Third Round: SAFC (0) 1 Notts County (1) 2* No excuse for failing in such fashion 

Jan 5 2011 Aston Villa (0) 0 SAFC (0) 1 Take your pick between 1) Bob and Tim Chapman: * Aerial battle settled by Bardsley super strike or 2) Sobs: * Deserved battling win – but at what cost?

Jan 1 2011 SAFC (2) 3 Blackburn Rovers (0) 0 Comfortable rather than convincing against feeble opposition

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 …

The Observer came calling again. Here is Pete Sixsmith‘s verdict, preceded by a Blackpool fan’s thoughts …

John Woodman, AVFTT.co.uk

A bad day at the office. Both sides had plenty of chances but we were flat from the start and never got going. Sunderland were quicker to the ball than us. We had a chance to score before them when Varney was one on one with the keeper and instead of dinking it over the keeper he hit it straight at him. Had we scored that it might have changed the direction of the game. Then our full-back got injured and they scored down that side. We were better in the second half but we didn’t have the guile of DJ Campbell up front, with his darting runs, and we had to make two enforced substitutions and one of them was our goalkeeper

.

The fan’s player ratings Kingson 6 (Rachubka 56 7); Eardley 8, Cathcart 7, Evatt 7, Crainey 6 (Ormerod 49 6); Grandin 6 (Harewood 62 6), Adam 7, Vaughan 8; Phillips 7, Taylor-Fletcher 7, Varney 7

Pete Sixsmith, SalutSunderland.com

A good end to a disappointing week for our football club. Sunderland showed strength of character to win this one against a determined Blackpool side. Kieran Richardson took his goals well from two superb passes. Asamoah Gyan led the forward line well and should flourish now he has a regular place. Blackpool threw everything at us in the closing stages but the defence stood its ground very well and our goalkeeper Gordon is very consistent now he is playing with a strong back four line behind him (*see comment). As the departing fans sang: “Who on earth needs Darren Bent?” apart from “on earth” weren’t the words used.

The fan’s player ratings Gordon 8; Onuoha 7, Bramble 7, Ferdinand 8, Bardsley 7 (Colback 63 6); Elmohamady 6 Henderson 7, Zenden 7, Richardson 8, Malbranque 7 (Riveros n/a); Gyan 8

Starting with today’s visit to Bloomfield Road, where Kieran Richardson’s first-half goals had our fans chanting “who the f— is Darren Bent?”, this is Sunderland AFC in snapshot. Almost every week Pete Sixsmith offers his inimitable seven-word verdict on our games. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him. The full archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there …

Jan 22 2011 Blackpool (0) 1 SAFC (2) 2 Excellent first half but tight at end

Jan 16 2011 SAFC (0) 1 Newcastle United (0) 1 Bacon saved by Gyan but scarcely deserved

Jan 8 2011 FA Cup Third Round: SAFC (0) 1 Notts County (1) 2* No excuse for failing in such fashion 

Jan 5 2011 Aston Villa (0) 0 SAFC (0) 1 Take your pick between 1) Bob and Tim Chapman: * Aerial battle settled by Bardsley super strike or 2) Sobs: * Deserved battling win – but at what cost?

Jan 1 2011 SAFC (2) 3 Blackburn Rovers (0) 0 Comfortable rather than convincing against feeble opposition

Dec 28 SAFC (0) 0 Blackpool (0) 2 Miss chances, you lose matches. That simple.

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 …

Following his tales of Blackpool trips in the 60s and 70s (read them here), Pete Sixsmith concludes his memories of visits to that cauldron of football, Bloomfield Road …

Our last visit was in October 1987 on a cold and windy day where there were no wrecks and nobody drowning, in fact nothing to laugh at at all.

As in 1964, I travelled on the Shildon bus, now run by George Michael Thompson. We met the Horan family in the town and my brother and his then wife travelled up from Southport, Blackpool’s snooty neighbour.
(more…)

Stories that Darren Bent had put in a transfer request in the summer but was persuaded to stay would explain the contrast in his performances this season compared to last.  Pete Sixsmith speculates on some other reasons, and like Jeremy Robson (below) takes the long view.

Well, that has been an interesting 24/36 hours hasn’t it? Almost defeat to the Mags, imbeciles running on the pitch and then a transfer request from Darren Bent. As the Chinese say, “May you live in interesting times”.

 Except I would rather not, or at least not if they are as negative as these “interesting times” are. I don’t want to dwell on yesterday’s game- enough said about it and I am getting a bit worried about myself, when Newcastle fans compliment me on my fairness. I must be getting old. What next? A pat on the back for Nick Clegg? An acceptance that Bernard Manning was “quite funny”?

The idiot who ran on the pitch, one Ross Miller, clearly has the brain cells discarded by a semi educated aardvark. Whatever the reasons for celebrating, it does not extend to pushing over an opposition player. The youth should be thoroughly ashamed of himself and turning up to apologise to Harper and then appearing on 5Live should not prevent him from being barred from the Stadium and the possibilities of a custodial sentence.

(more…)

Starting with the return derby with Newcastle United, where poor defending and lack of creativity so nearly cost us all three points, this is Sunderland AFC in snapshot. Almost every week Pete Sixsmith offers his inimitable seven-word verdict on our games. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him. The full archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there (and who will have much, much more to say about today’s bitter disappointment which was very nearly much worse) …

Jan 16 2011 SAFC (0) 1 Newcastle United (0) 1 Bacon saved by Gyan but scarcely deserved

Jan 8 2011 FA Cup Third Round: SAFC (0) 1 Notts County (1) 2* No excuse for failing in such fashion 

Jan 5 2011 Aston Villa (0) 0 SAFC (0) 1 Take your pick between 1) Bob and Tim Chapman: * Aerial battle settled by Bardsley super strike or 2) Sobs: * Deserved battling win – but at what cost?

Jan 1 2011 SAFC (2) 3 Blackburn Rovers (0) 0 Comfortable rather than convincing against feeble opposition

Dec 28 SAFC (0) 0 Blackpool (0) 2 Miss chances, you lose matches. That simple.

Dec 26 2010 Manchester United (1) 2 SAFC (0) 0 United simply miles better than we were

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 …

37 years on from a tight draw at Meadow Lane, Sunderland show that they have learned nothing from the past and turn in a display that has Pete Sixsmith shaking his head in wonderment at such an embarrassing performance

So, the idea of symmetry with the teaching career goes out of the bloody window at the first stage.

What an absolutely shocking performance our players turned in yesterday. I won’t use the word “team” in this, because we played nothing like one. It was a collection of individuals pretending to be a unified group in red and white stripes, nothing more.

Our opponents, a decent third level team, stuck to their task well. They were organised, efficient and well drilled. This proved to be far too much for the assembled red and white superstars, who played as if they were up against some wonder team from the upper echelons of La Liga rather than a mid table Division One team.

As I drove across an empty Wearmouth Bridge towards an empty Stadium of Light, I heard the line up and thought, “Hmm, one or two will be keen to show the manager and the assembled fans that they are good enough to play regularly. This makes me look forward to an afternoon of high tempo football and lots of goals whizzing past the Pies goalkeeper”.

How wrong could I be? Quite a lot as it happened. Our “squad” players made it clear that the only squad that applied to them was one they should be stood in front of. (more…)

Starting with the FA Cup tie at home to Notts County, this is Sunderland AFC in snapshot. Almost every week Pete Sixsmith offers his inimitable seven-word verdict on our games. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him. The full archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there …

Jan 8 2011 FA Cup Third Round: SAFC (0) 1 Notts County (1) 2 Another humiliation at the hands of Magpies

Jan 5 2011 Aston Villa (0) 0 SAFC (0) 1 Take your pick between 1) Bob and Tim Chapman: * Aerial battle settled by Bardsley super strike or 2) Sobs: * Deserved battling win – but at what cost?

Jan 1 2011 SAFC (2) 3 Blackburn Rovers (0) 0 Comfortable rather than convincing against feeble opposition

Dec 28 SAFC (0) 0 Blackpool (0) 2 Miss chances, you lose matches. That simple.

Dec 26 2010 Manchester United (1) 2 SAFC (0) 0 United simply miles better than we were

Dec 18 2010 SAFC (1) 1 Bolton Wanderers (0) 0 Marginally the better team. Merry Christmas all

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 …

Some more glorious reminiscences from Pete Sixsmith, who also offers timely reassurance to anyone who took him seriously when he wondered aloud about which match to watch tomorrow …

To those who thought I was deserting the Stadium of Light for Dean Street, I say thank you for convincing me that my destiny and duty lay at Sunderland rather than Shildon. I shall be in my normal seat on Saturday watching the current crop of Lads take on the current crop of Magpies.
(more…)