Aston Villa, M Salut decided as he walked away from the Stadium of Light, are not a team of thugs. Darren Bent is doubtless “one greedy b******” (there are sensitive souls looking in), though I quarrel with the “only” of the chant; Agbonlahor gives a decent impersonation of a man in training for an Olympics diving medal and Richard Dunne can act like an immature and unpleasant schoolboy, as he did after conceding the foul that led to our second equaliser. For all that, it was not a dirty match and both sides did try to play. But Pete Sixsmith wonders whether “mildly entertaining” football is what both sets of fans must accept as their lot …

Twelve months ago, I was sitting in a darkened room with a cold towel over my head as I tried to get over the 5-1 drubbing at Sports Direct Park. It was probably the worst result in my Sunderland watching experience and, to be honest, I still haven’t fully recovered from it.

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To boo or not to boo. Pete Sixsmith climbs on to his Soapbox to explain why feelings may be running a little high when Mr Bent takes the field, and why he probably won’t join in any barracking …

See also: the Aston Villa fan preview – with the Villa-supporting head of the Methodist Conference

Do we boo him or not? It’s a question that has exercised some of the finest minds of this generation – Sobs, Peter Horan, Joan Dawson, M Salut, Russell Henderson, all of them the equivalent of Bertrand Russell, Freddie Ayer and Aristotle (who was a bugger for the bottle, I believe).

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Darren Bent may be true to his word and walk serenely back to the centre of the field without so much as a smile should he score for Aston Villa against Sunderland on Saturday. Most of the others in the ground will do a lot more than smile if he a) doesn’t score at all but misses every chance that comes his way b) ends up on the soundly beaten side and c) is sent off.

Sunderland supporters generally give a fabulous welcome to former players who gave their hearts to SAFC for several seasons – look up several, Darren – before moving on for readily understandable reasons. Think SuperKev; there is a minority of boo boys but they are simply drowned out.

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Three great Darren Bent comments posted at the Blackcats list in recent days, linked to Steve Bruce’s own pursuit of new recruits, deserve wider currency. I haven’t specific consent so will limit attribution to initials:

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There’s a large body of Villa supporters who are just up M Salut’s street: proper fans of a proper football club. In questioning what the interest in Roberto Martinez tells us about AVFC, our shady Birflatt Boy does not have them in mind, but the humourless, Houllier-than-thou self-delusionists who can express their allegiance only in terms of braying about what a big club they follow (and how much bigger they are than us) …

I wonder how Darren Bent is feeling now.

He left Sunderland for Aston Villa because according to him he was going to get the chance to play for a “top manager” with chances a plenty being created by their talented wide players Ashley Young and Stuart Downing. The Villa Park of mid June is looking a completely different place to the one that so bedazzled Bent in the cold January transfer window.

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The report cards are coming in thick and fast now. If Bill Taylor brought us down to earth with his pastiche of the post-match Steve Bruce e-mails, stand by for a few more home truths as Jeremy Robson casts a highly critical eye over goings-on at the Stadium of Light. Salut! Sunderland readers who think they know better should make contact and offer their own end-of-season reviews …

Few of us expected the wonderful start made to this last campaign.

Sadly, most of us could have expected from experience to suffer a second half collapse in form that occurred since Christmas and the departure of one Darren Bent.

Irrespective of whether we find the facts comfortable, Bent’s goals even in a lacklustre period for him, accounted for the difference between the first and second halves of the season.

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The tweet from LMuir89 – Liam Muir, a journalism student at Sunderland Uni – brought a wry grin.

Saturday’s games were in full flow, we were goalless again and Liam wrote this: “Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent on the scoresheet yet Sunderland can’t buy a goal!”

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The following headline, a staggeringly self-evident gem of its kind, appeared at the Ladbroke’s site (where you can get only 10/1 on us to go down) …

Home games liable to determine Sunderland’s season

With insight like that, who needs to consult any other pundit?

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At some stage this week, we need to stop banging on about how to apportion blame for an atrocious run that has taken Sunderland from the fringes of European competition to the bleak familiarity of a relegation scrap.

We need to get behind the team, whatever some may think about its leadership, and provide encouragement for the home game (nearly said vital but they all are, potentially, now) against Wigan Athletic.

As seems to be our lot, we will face newly emboldened opponents. The 3-1 win at Blackpool has Latics fans simpering at the prospect of survival, not least when they see our state of disarray. It also shows, ominously, that they can score goals.

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Image: The View from the Press Box

There are times when I rise up and defend my confrères in the press, and times when they make me despair. Today’s headlines about Steve Bruce being caught “in another race storm” make it a day for despair.

Getting on for 12 years ago, I saw Sunderland beat Watford 3-2 away in the first of Peter Reid’s seventh top seasons. SuperKev grabbed two of the goals, one of them having taken a massive deflection, and Gavin McCann the other.

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