Charlie Wayman

Didn't we steal a bloke called Lambert from Bristol Rovers for a bag of chips and two gaspers, we really are a very bad lot...

A very thoughtful in initiative that I for one appreciate very much. I also loved the sting tucked in amongst the prose... "a few smiles too". I alluded the other day to thaw fact that Marcus was alwya smiling and waving and we have missed that clear embrace of togetherness ever since. "We are as one" etc was always meaningless Cortese-speak after Pardew & Adkins got the big heave-ho but more relevant to us was the disrespect shown to fans by never ever telling us anything about what was going on inside the club. Cortese's 'behind closed doors' really meant bolted tight, shuttered and triple locked. I am lucky as my seat is very close to those of the board but in all Cortese's time here it is hard to recall a single occasion on which he actually looked into the faces of fans around him and smiled any sign of recognition or friendship even 'though all those fans had been in their same seats for every one of his five years.

Wishful thinking on your part. Cortese simply wanted to grab full power and resented having to report to even there Liebherr family.

I thought that was down to Martin Broughton or do we read different newspapers.

You'll be lucky to get away with that after-thought. The context of your original entry doesn't allow this answer.

Hadn't you noticed that we are already competing with Man City & Chelsea or is the PL organised differently these days?

You could indeed, lots of oppo goals come down the right side because he's so often caught out of position. Give Boruc some slack, he's been out for weeks had next to nothing to do until suddenly the ball's past him into the net. Could have done better on their second? Have you any idea how fast that bloody ball is going when it's hit full belt from 5 yards and near the post. I don't blame him for not having fast enough reactions to stop it and the memory of his recent accident smashing a hand against a post won't have helped his automatic instincts in that particular instance but for sure he didn't hold up the white flag either. Of course if his hand is not 100% and was a factor then he shouldn't be playing until super fit and ready, it was odd he wanted off soon after maybe he realised that when the **** hits the fan like that he isn't really ready to risk all.

You wonder why we bother to play pretty intricate football when a team as crassly poor as Sunderland can score just as many goals playing what the pundits call "the direct game" with lots of physical huffing and puffing and long hopeful balls up the channels followed by aimless crosses to nowhere in particular. The conclusion is that ugly, unentertaining kick-a-bout is just as effective as tippy-tappy tango, so what's it all about? The answer is as usual our strikers let us down badly and miss open goal after open goal when we should have scored at least 4 before HT and maybe 5. Plenty of comment above about this so no need to go on and on but if the front men can't score then Cork, Davis and Schneiderlin should step up to the plate but they rarely do. Surely we can be more objective and aggressive in the final third? Give Saurez a sniff if a goal and he bust every gut in his body to make sure it goes in the net, same with Aguero, same with Hazard. Are they great players by nature or jus more willing to have a go when others give it up as a bad job. Rodrigues and Lambert do not have the forcefulness of these types of players and it is high time management woke up to the fact. What happened to Seagar, I thought he scored for fun? Is there nobody in the Academy of Shearer quality coming through? Tough week I know but bloody hell this second half collapse was inexcusable. If they're all knackered by HT then for heaven's sake slow them up ia bit in the first half so that they have some energy left for later.

The article is unfair to Cortese. Who was it that picked unknown managers from obscurity and made them household names? A fool and money are soon parted, no sign of financial failure here. Samuels is right about the dispensability of people around Cortese but that's what a CEO is for and a good one can and will take tough decisions without allowing emotional considerations to get in the way. He could handle the truth, many others around football cannot. I didn't see Samuel writing much direct criticism whilst Cortese was in post, it must be fun to come out from under cover to join in the kicking of the corpse.

This +++

I doubt there's much "hate" around (as you call it) just pressure releasing after the calamitous news of this week, we have a hero who's walked so there must be a villain. Things will settle down, the club ownership has not changed one iota and those who express these feelings will soon come around to see that our benefactor has actually been constant in her benign support that has allowed Nicola Cortese to operate more or less free reign. It's probably Cortese who has changed the rules of the game and upped the ante - maybe inevitably just following the old mantra that power eventually corrupts - in this case corrupting that power by not following agreed principles and guidelines laid down with the Liebherr family trustees. Did he just become too big for his boots? It's a fair question to ask. If the lady smiles more than once in a while from the director's box, I for one will welcome this re-engagement with the friendly, family atmosphere that this club has always held dear. Marcus after all never stopped smiling.

It seems to me we have no problems with our young academy lads as long as their families are not the types to be ever pushing their kids to do better for themselves and to grab as much money as they can squeeze out of the system and most probably for their own gain rather than out of any real concern about what is best for their kids in the longer term. We saw it with Alex Chamberlain, his effing father was the sort of nasty piece of work who was always pushing his son on probably for the best money toy the exclusion of loyalty and we saw it with Lewis Hamilton in F1. Both are now in the doldrums with all their early promise apparently snuffed out of them. Luke Shaw seems to be on that particular sticky slope but luckily Adam, Callum, Nathaniel and James seem to be in charge of their own destinies and long may it stay that way. If I'd had a lad good enough to play for Saints, I'd have done my level best to have persuaded him to stay here for his whole career.

No everything was wonderful under Cortese, the food was crap, the loos are always flooded and stinking, the programmes are firkin useless because of their weird size and the rain blows onto spectators even though there's a roof of sorts overhead and don't get me started about car parking fees when you have to queue for tickets. Just remember this fellow fans amongst your pink tinted eulogies... what was done for us except being fleeced very weekend?

What Mauricio Pochettino needs to bear in mind is resignation out of a misplaced loyalty to the ex-CEO will be a Folly of the grandest scale. The minute Cortese had decided that results weren't good enough, Poch would have been out the door just like Adkins before him and Pardew before him. People like Cortese are ruthless and do not understand quaint emotional notions like loyalty. The manager's loyalty should be to his colleagues, his players and the fans nobody else, it's just a job he's doing.

Certainly explains Cortese's absence since Christmas. Must have left on Jan 1st.

If the Liebherr's won't sell then Cortese would appear to be on his way, if they do sell then Cortese may stay if he can persuade the Sunseeker crew to take over. That would work best for us. But how can he concentrate on finding a replacement for Poch with all this going on in the background :-)

If Cortese goes, I go, simples. I shall miss the terrace banter and comradeship but I'm buggered if I will share my passion for the Saints withs some blokes from China who don't even know where England is let alone Brittania Road, St Mary's.

Sadly, Tadanari was the patsy in a marketing strategy that just didn't work out. If Yoshi is sent packing as well, we'll be a hated club in Japan although no doubt that will ensure our popularity in the PRC. How many shirts did we sell in Kyoto, Nicola?

I couldn't make head nor tail of this entry, what on Earth are you talking about?

A good win for Sunderland as Poyet continues to knit a silk purse at the Stadium of Light. This will not be easy for us especially as they are a bunch of old fashioned fighters and we can't seem to be able to score goals. It could be a dire 0-0 affair but there is always the chance of a freak or careless goal in there somewhere in this type of match. I'll go for a 0-0 but fear a 1-0.

Good choice of topic and it's probably how many of us feel. I didn't go down there on Saturday partly for that very reason that it all seems to have petered out a bit this season. Mid-table mediocrity has become the reality and a bit like the old mid-life crises, our whole approach seems to have become a bit aimless. A few years of success and always on the up-and-up has maybe spoiled us, so if we are not challenging at the top and not under any immediate threat from the bottom, finishing higher or lower than the North London rioters or the always grumbling Geordies does not seem much of an objective to keep us on our toes. We are where we are and we are what we have become, nothing is suddenly going to improve. Hey ho, but it is PL football, Jim but not as we would have liked it to be.

It's good news that he is on the mend and in good hands. It must be a very worrying time for your family and all Saints fans will be willing him to a full recovery. Best wishes to all of you and let's hope and pray your dad will soon be back on the terraces. Just tell him next season will be better than this.

It's the same everywhere in the PL, all coaches assume a successful side must be built on solid defensive foundations and we have followed that model under Pochettino. What it means unfortunately is that 6 of the team are committed fully to defensive duties and the other two midfielders are looking to drop back in support. How often do you see our so-called attacking midfielders passing back during a forward movement and breaking our momentum and allowing the opposition to get back in numbers rather then push on. The reason seems to be if they push on there will be a disconnect in midfield that the opposition can exploit. The defensive system requires the whole team to push forward together to reduce the effects of this disconnect but then they are vulnerable to the quick break and conceding silly goals, which often happens with us but not only us as you see it happen week after week. The attacking midfielders have to get the ball to feet in the 18 years area for the forwards to have any chance but it is not often that they do that as they are not pushing on with the momentum of the attack. On the rare occasions when they do it might be out of sheer frustration and momentarily forget what the coaches have instructed them to do and rely on their football in instinct. I think we will see more and more of this if it gets results as coaches can't afford to lose many matches before they are under pressure. Boring, boring Arsenal won a league winning 1-0 but I'll bet the fans weren't too happy about it.

What is wrong with us going forward, 80% of the play and we get about 2 cleat chances on goal other than set pieces and to cap it all we need to rely on our Goal Pole to save our skins. Wake up at the front!

That seems about right to me. Identifying likely suspects is one thing, integrating them into a fairly self-picking team without upsetting the whole apple cart is quite another. There are circumstances where it might be justified, for example where a key player may be out for the season and we have no adequate deputy but most only miss a match or two so pressing the Big P button isn't necessary. Now if Boruc or Wanyama are longer term injured than we have been led to believe maybe there's a case but even then do we really miss the Kenyan that much with Jack Cork in fine form and improving by the match.