Is Santa listening? Probably not, but Salut! Sunderland thought it would produce its own list of the presents it wants, the things it wants to happen not just for Christmas but for the coming year. Let’s see how many are granted. This is the first of three instalments. Come up with a better suggestion or two and you might win a prize …

A is for Arsène. The elegantly whingeing Alsacian – (“is that why they’re called Arsenal?” asked the daughter who knows nothing about football) – announces a new deal with Optical Express, suddenly sees things more clearly, apologises for his players’ occasional diving and heaps praise on teams that beat or draw against Arsenal as well as those that lose.

B is for Bruce: Steve wins three manager-of-the-month awards in succession and we’re not only safe but sixth.
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Sam Haseltine, our Hammers previewer and Football United techie wizard, cornered our own Pete Sixsmith last night for a telephone interview that delayed Sixer’s evening meal but should be clickable above. It was a good idea to record such a discussion, though this may be Salut! Sunderland‘s last word, for now, on the Ilunga/Jones incident and the various side issues that have arisen …

This week has produced a good mix of views on the controversies triggered by the Sunderland v West Ham match. Most people have expressed themselves strongly but within the bounds of reason.

Many, but interestingly enough not all, Hammers fans now say the recent bad injury to Ilunga’s jaw justified his reaction to Kenwyne Jones’s push (a sending off offence, as we have acknowledged from the outset, but a pretty tame push as pushes go). Some West Ham supporters clearly still feel he made an awful lot of the challenge and that his intentions in doing so were fairly transparent.

But no one should doubt that the lad has suffered a nasty injury. This was pointed out in one of the very earliest of comments posted at Salut! Sunderland on Saturday evening. But I do not think anyone is suggesting Ilunga was brought back into the side while still injured, since that would have been grossly irresponsible on the part of Zola and his management colleagues.

To the West Ham fans who have engaged in genuine, if impassioned debate, I am as grateful as I am to Sunderland supporters who have done likewise. To those unable to conceal enmity, but quick to fire off moronic insults, I merely say that this is probably not the right kind of site for you to be visiting.

Colin Randall

“Old bald headed bloke” * – see comments – considers the response from Wearside, the East End and beyond to the Jones/Ilunga incident during the 2-2 draw between SAFC and West Ham …

West Ham supporters have rallied gamely to the cause of their side following events at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

They have done it with a mixture of solid defensive work and aggressive counter-attack (there have also been a couple of more cretinous offerings, but the ratio of joined-up thinking to no thinking at all has been high).
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Quick post-match thoughts …

Hands up those brave, sportsmanlike West Ham players who spent much of the first half screaming at the referee to issue cards against Sunderland players.

And step forward the man who went down under Kenwyne Jones’s foolish push, clutching his face as if stitches and possibly one of those full facial transplants would be the only feasible remedy? BBC 5 Live said Jones had to go – since you just don’t raise your hands to an opponent, even in retaliation for a bad foul – but that there had been no contact with Herita Ilunga’s face.

This this suggests an unrelated injury, from which I can only hope Mr Ilunga has fully recovered. Let us hope all is well with him.

But just two thoughts: the most rational post-match fan’s report I have so far seen came from a Sunderland supporter who said Andre Marriner’s decision to award a second booking to the West Ham player Robert Kovac was a joke. And shouldn’t screaming at ref in order to get someone shown a red card – whoever does it – be a cautionable offence?

* E-mail from another SAFC fan: the play acting from West Ham, throughout the game, was shocking, a view not
at all shared by Hammers fans (one of whom e-mailed me “Yes but if you
disregard what you call cheating and we don’t, we deserved to win”).

That said Cana should have gone and probably would have had the ref not been
able to watch the video of the Jones dismissal at half time.

Colin Randall