Fan Letters: “The table doesn’t lie — Sunderland are there on merit!”

Dear Roker Report,

Isn’t it both amazing and amusing when every week, the likes of Chris Sutton and co continually write us off — only to have to eat copious amounts of humble pie?

I’m genuinely bemused at the lack of intelligence amongst these so-called experts. The league table doesn’t lie; we’re there on merit and because every single Sunderland player is giving sweat and blood for the club.

We deserve to be fifth and we’ll hopefully continue to make these clowns look more foolish as the season rolls on, as Régis Le Bris has found a way that suits us.

He knows we don’t have the prima donnas of some of the so-called elite clubs, but that we have the heart and the will to win that makes us extremely dangerous against any team in this league. I truly believe the days when Sunderland will be cannon fodder for teams to rack up the goals against are gone.

We’re one unit and the head coach has created a body of players who fear no-one. So, let them all crow against us, let them continue to have us down as relegation candidates, and let the games carry on and the points continue to build.

We’re Sunderland and we will not lie down. This is the start of a great adventure and sooner or later, these buffoons will have to sit back and give the club the credit it truly deserves. 

Peter Milton

Ed’s Note [Phil]:Hi, Peter. Thank you for your letter.

For me, the fact that many pundits and analysts have been so dismissive of Sunderland so far this season doesn’t feel all that offensive.

After all, recent history shows us that newly-promoted sides do often struggle in the Premier League and writing off our chances of taking anything from any given game is an easy way to generate discussion and more importantly, clicks and listens to pre-match previews and the like.

However, as you rightly say, there’s a togetherness and a sense of unity being shared by the players, fans and coaches alike, and that’ll carry us a long way this season. As Régis Le Bris himself has observed “Togetherness is a non-negotiable” and with every game we play, that ethos is being put into practice by the players.

Long may it continue!

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Dear Roker Report,

Since the final whistle of the match against Nottingham Forest, it seems that every other article we read is a condemnation of the referee for awarding the free kick which resulted in our winning goal.

All the ‘experts’ seem to think the correct decision was to play on, but my question is: If a player takes a dive in the penalty area in an effort to win a penalty and gets his opponent punished with a yellow or red card, what the referee’s decision? It’s often a free kick to the defending side and a card for simulation, and no-one bats an eyelid towards that.

What’s the difference between that scenario and what we saw on Saturday? In my opinion, the referee was fully justified.

The relevant part of FA Rule 12, Section 4:

CAUTIONS FOR UNSPORTING BEHAVIOUR

There are different circumstances when a player must be cautioned for unsporting behaviour including if a player attempts to deceive a referee — e.g. by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled (simulation).

Stuart Lathan

Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, Stuart. Thank you for getting in touch.

Whilst the awarding of the free kick that led to our goal on Saturday night (from a very well-worked routine, as well) might’ve been controversial, I didn’t feel that it was a grossly unfair decision or that we got lucky in any way.

There was clearly contact and I certainly didn’t feel that Trai Hume made a meal of it in any way. He’s as hard as nails and not the kind of player who’ll respond theatrically in a situation like that, so it was fair enough, in my opinion.

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Dear Roker Report,

(Email sent post-Aston Villa)

Was that a point won or two points dropped?

Villa arrived on Wearside looking seemingly incapable of scoring even a single goal so far this season, and they started the game by strolling around the Stadium of Light as if they weren’t particularly bothered about scoring one against us.

They were awful; totally disinterested in working hard enough to even break into a sweat! Perhaps they thought they didn’t need to do much to beat us or maybe they were saving their energy and trying to avoid injury ahead of their Europa League game against Bologna on Thursday.

We looked very comfortable for the first half hour and were slightly better than a side that only lost out on a Champions League place in the final game of last season.

Then disaster struck!

Reinildo Mandava, our Mozambican full back recently signed from Atlético Madrid, had a rush of blood to the head when he stupidly and needlessly kicked out at Matty Cash having won himself a free kick. It was hard to argue against the straight red but he didn’t inflict any real damage. It was more petulant than violent but his opponent milked it for all it was worth and off he went.

It left us having to face a full hour playing with only ten men, and surely Villa would’ve had the nous to use their Premier League experience and their numerical advantage to score their first goal of the season and go on to take all three points?

Well, they did eventually score but it was more of a gift from our usually reliable goalkeeper than a touch of footballing brilliance. He was deceived by a swerving shot from Cash which he got his hands to but couldn’t stop — he really should’ve saved it and he knew it.

This should’ve been the signal for Villa to start playing the football they’re obviously capable of and remind themselves how to start scoring goals again, but they didn’t.

Instead, their strolling around seemed to become even slower as  they clearly thought they’d already done enough to take all the points, so saved their energy and switched their focus to the Bologna game.

It was a fatal error. Régis Le Bris teams don’t give up easily and hadn’t given up on this one despite being a man and a goal down. Somehow, we found the energy from to create a deserved equaliser to earn a valuable point.

Villa had only managed to keep their lead for eight minutes and that was against a team who’d already played with ten men for more than half of the game. They should be totally ashamed of themselves and should all be docked a week’s wages, with the money used to refund their travelling fans the cost of their match tickets and their train fares.

Hindsight suggests there were three easy points for us to take from a team who clearly didn’t care about this game and it was only a stupid, senseless and unnecessary act of petulance by a newcomer to English football that stopped us doing that.

Reinildo will have a lot to answer for if those two lost points are the difference between survival and relegation come the end of the season.

We’ve now moved on to eight points from five games as we continue to slowly inch our way to eleven points from ten games — which is our first target in our efforts to achieve safety this season.

Our next game is a visit to Nottingham Forest, another team who just might have their minds and bodies more focused on European competition than on giving 100% against these pesky newcomers from the Championship.

Then it’s off to Old Trafford to face the enigma that Manchester United have become. They have the name and the reputation; they have the money and they’ve signed the stars but they still look a long way from being the powerhouse of the Premier League they once were. Let’s hope their current malaise lasts for a couple more games.

There are opportunities for us to get something out of both these games, providing we can keep playing with the commitment and organisation we’ve shown so far. There are points for us to win here!

Peter Tyrrell

Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, Peter. Thank you for your letter.

I’m writing this reply in the wake of our excellent 0-1 victory over Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening — a result that took us to eleven points from six games and ensured that our encouraging start to the season continued.

In my view, the Aston Villa result definitely represented a point gained as opposed to two dropped, and the way in which we rallied following Reinildo’s red card was superb. We showed resilience in abundance, played some excellent football, and deserved the draw we eventually achieved through Wilson Isidor’s equaliser.

However, if that was an impressive result, the victory over Forest was even more so and the sheer will to win and endurance we demonstrated at the City Ground was remarkable at times.

For this side, lost causes don’t exist and with the likes of Robin Roefs and Nordi Mukiele continuing to look like superb additions, there’s a real sense of purpose about us — something for which Régis Le Bris and his coaches should rightly take an enormous of credit.

Onwards to Old Trafford, and another game that we shouldn’t fear in the slightest.

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