Behind Enemy Lines – Part 14

WHAT A RELIEF
I’m sure every Sunderland fan will agree, Tuesday felt good..very good. Maybe it’s too much to say that it was worth waiting for after nearly FIVE months without a victory but the lean spell made the win seem sweeter. But what a relief. I’d have happily taken 1-0, but it was great that, for once, we didn’t have to sweat for the whole 90 minutes. So many good performances from the lads too. Players like Jones, Mensah & Bent are expected to rise to the big occasion but what we weren’t expecting was Frazier Campbell and to some extent Steed Malbranque playing so well. Campbell has looked very raw recently, maybe understandably playing right wing, but on Tuesday he was very good. Malbranque has been very quiet this season, but he has so much quality on the ball and that shined through against Bolton. The key thing now is, can these players keep it up for the rest of the season?

CITY LIMIT?
Man City come to town on Sunday, ensuring the pressure of the relegation scrap will not go away. So many dangerous players in their side have me worried, especially a certain Mr Bellamy, who always seems to perform against us. I think he will get loudly booed as ever, due to his black & white allegiances, but as he has said in the past, this only spurs him on. Which City will turn up though? They can be very hit & miss but with our confidence I feel we can put the pressure on and I’d be delighted with a point.

SAFC 1 Man City 1

BRUCE TO STAY
Niall Quinn has come out after the Bolton match and said that Steve Bruce will stay on as boss even if we get relegated. For me, it’s exactly the message that should be put across by the Club. It will settle the fans down and show them that the club want to build year on year and put their trust in a man they believe is good enough to take the club in to the top 10 clubs in England.

MONEY OR SENTIMENT?
The positive press coming out of the club has increased this week, with Quinn, Walton & Short making lots of headlines in the financial side of the club. One sound bite that has sneaked out is the fact that the Club will consider selling the naming rights to the Stadium of Light. Now this will be a very controversial subject if pushed any further. A lot of fans will feel it’s essential to carry the club forward, others will say it simply shouldn’t be done. I tend to take the view of one of our twitter followers, Nathan Jones who says ‘as long as its done tactfully and benefits the club, not like the mags, I’m up for it’

BET OF THE WEEK
Take Manchester United to beat Fulham 2-0 on Sunday afternoon.

That’s all for now,
PW

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