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Mackems Foot In The Final


Stuart Dickson

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I had yet another superb experience at the Stadium of Light last night with the Beautiful Black Cats Beating Moyes Miserable Mob 2-1 in the first leg of the Capital One Cup Semi Final.

We had tickets in the Premier Concourse and were sat immediately behind the VIP box right looking directly down onto the two dug outs. The tickets for what are without doubt some of the best seats in the house cost just £20 per adult, £5 per child. I picked my youngest son up from school when it finished at 3.45pm and we drove straight down, stopping at the Metro Centre Pizza Hut for a bite to eat. And we arrived, parked up and took our seats just in time for the fantastic anthem Dance of the Knights by Prokofiev to be belted out. The stadium wasn't anywhere near full but the wall of sound was unbelievable for the first ten minutes or so of the match.

Watching the game it's immediately apparent that there's a massive chasm in class between the English Premiership and the Scottish Premiership. At this match even the bottom club, Sunderland, have a squad that are all capable of pinging a 40/50 yard cross field pass with the kind of accuracy that makes it easy for the player receiving the pass to control comfortably. At one point in the match there was a lovely passage of play by Sunderland who were stroking the ball around with accuracy, the passing and the ball control quality was immense until someone played it up to Steven Fletcher. The ball bounced off his toe, into his chest and he immediately lost it. That Celtic want to spend £6m on a man who can't control a pass along the ground perhaps speaks volumes about the state of the game in Scotland.

Anyway in the event Sunderland won quite comfortably in a match where the result never really looked in doubt. The only downside was Vidic scoring from a corner - a goal that might cost Sunderland their ultimate place in the final. After the match my youngest son and I somehow managed to go down the wrong exit passageway - a complete accident honest - and landed up in the Executive Lounge. My son used the toilet while I was offered a couple of mini steak pie things - it felt rude to say no - and I swear we could have stayed in there unchallenged had it not been for the fact that my other son had gone the right way and was waiting for us outside. We came down the stairs, overtaking Sir Alex Ferguson and Bryan Robson - respectfully ignoring them - to emerge through the plush marble reception area and came out to the car park through the VIP exit to a crowd of autograph hunters.

Fantastic night - can't wait to go back.

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Fuxake.

That's truly amazing.

Last night I had a threesome with Sarah Silverman and Ciara.

246290_sarah_silverman_scaled.jpg

157241772-ciara-attends-the-2012-billboa

But when I woke up and read your post I had to concede to a master of the land of nod.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Edited by bluto
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I had yet another superb experience at the Stadium of Light last night with the Beautiful Black Cats Beating Moyes Miserable Mob 2-1 in the first leg of the Capital One Cup Semi Final.

We had tickets in the Premier Concourse and were sat immediately behind the VIP box right looking directly down onto the two dug outs. The tickets for what are without doubt some of the best seats in the house cost just £20 per adult, £5 per child. I picked my youngest son up from school when it finished at 3.45pm and we drove straight down, stopping at the Metro Centre Pizza Hut for a bite to eat. And we arrived, parked up and took our seats just in time for the fantastic anthem Dance of the Knights by Prokofiev to be belted out. The stadium wasn't anywhere near full but the wall of sound was unbelievable for the first ten minutes or so of the match.

Watching the game it's immediately apparent that there's a massive chasm in class between the English Premiership and the Scottish Premiership. At this match even the bottom club, Sunderland, have a squad that are all capable of pinging a 40/50 yard cross field pass with the kind of accuracy that makes it easy for the player receiving the pass to control comfortably. At one point in the match there was a lovely passage of play by Sunderland who were stroking the ball around with accuracy, the passing and the ball control quality was immense until someone played it up to Steven Fletcher. The ball bounced off his toe, into his chest and he immediately lost it. That Celtic want to spend £6m on a man who can't control a pass along the ground perhaps speaks volumes about the state of the game in Scotland.

Anyway in the event Sunderland won quite comfortably in a match where the result never really looked in doubt. The only downside was Vidic scoring from a corner - a goal that might cost Sunderland their ultimate place in the final. After the match my youngest son and I somehow managed to go down the wrong exit passageway - a complete accident honest - and landed up in the Executive Lounge. My son used the toilet while I was offered a couple of mini steak pie things - it felt rude to say no - and I swear we could have stayed in there unchallenged had it not been for the fact that my other son had gone the right way and was waiting for us outside. We came down the stairs, overtaking Sir Alex Ferguson and Bryan Robson - respectfully ignoring them - to emerge through the plush marble reception area and came out to the car park through the VIP exit to a crowd of autograph hunters.

Fantastic night - can't wait to go back.

None of the stats back that up.

The highlights I watched this morning didn't back that up either.

United are certainly missing something but were still the better team

Will they win the tie, probably although they must be suffering from some lack of confidence. If Rooney is back they will get through comfortably.

Just my opinion you understand.

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None of the stats back that up.

The highlights I watched this morning didn't back that up either.

United are certainly missing something but were still the better team

Will they win the tie, probably although they must be suffering from some lack of confidence. If Rooney is back they will get through comfortably.

Just my opinion you understand.

At the match it didn't feel in doubt. I'd travelled down hoping for a 2-0 Sunderland win - I always thought Sunderland would win though. It was just one of those nights. I thought Sunderland dominated central midfield for a huge period in the first half. Everything seemed to fall to Ki and Cattermole and when they opted to get the ball to the wide area's Borini, and Giaccherini appeared to be having a lot of success getting the ball into dangerous area's.

In the second half Man U came out looking strong but when they scored I always felt Sunderland had another goal in them and remained certain of a Sunderland victory. They needed a bit more pace about them and Johnston coming on certainly provided that. When they got him on the ball at any stage he looked dangerous and he looked like the most exciting player on the park.

Man U had quality but for me they seemed to lack urgency. Wellbeck is a key player for them and he didn't really get going IMO and when Moyes moved Janujaz back into a midfield role towards the end of the first half to combat the Sunderland central three they lost any real attacking threat they had.

I don't think Sunderland played extremely well to win this game. I think they've got much more to offer. Whether they can find the consistency to produce it at Old Trafford is another matter but they've given themselves a chance. I just worry that the goal they conceded will come back to bite them on the arse.

Sunderland need some new strikers though. Fletcher is OK, Altidore isn't. I don't know if Poyet will be given much cash in the January window but if he is that's where he needs to strengthen IMO. Brown and O'Shea are doing a great job in the normally troublesome position for Sunderland.

Edited by Stuart Dickson
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We had tickets in the Premier Concourse and were sat immediately behind the VIP box right looking directly down onto the two dug outs. The tickets for what are without doubt some of the best seats in the house cost just £20 per adult, £5 per child. I picked my youngest son up from school when it finished at 3.45pm and we drove straight down, stopping at the Metro Centre Pizza Hut for a bite to eat. And we arrived, parked up and took our seats just in time for the fantastic anthem Dance of the Knights by Prokofiev to be belted out. The stadium wasn't anywhere near full but the wall of sound was unbelievable for the first ten minutes or so of the match.

Anyway in the event Sunderland won quite comfortably in a match where the result never really looked in doubt. The only downside was Vidic scoring from a corner - a goal that might cost Sunderland their ultimate place in the final. After the match my youngest son and I somehow managed to go down the wrong exit passageway - and I swear we could have stayed in there unchallenged had it not been for the fact that my other son had gone the right way and was waiting for us outside.

Let me get this right - a "responsible" parent sees fit to drive from Central Scotland to another country to watch a relatively meaningless match (That was on the telly anyway) on a SCHOOLNIGHT??

What time did they get home? Did they not have studies / homework?

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Fuxake.

That's truly amazing.

Last night I had a threesome with Sarah Silverman and Ciara.

246290_sarah_silverman_scaled.jpg

157241772-ciara-attends-the-2012-billboa

But when I woke up and read your post I had to concede to a master of the land of nod.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It was a foursome and I wondered who was the guy that kept tapping my shoulder.

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Let me get this right - a "responsible" parent sees fit to drive from Central Scotland to another country to watch a relatively meaningless match (That was on the telly anyway) on a SCHOOLNIGHT??

What time did they get home? Did they not have studies / homework?

Meaningless to whom? It certainly wasn't to three passionate Sunderland supporters from Wishaw.

We were all home by 00.30am, my youngest is well ahead on his studies for his exams this year and he had completed all his homework. Not sure why that would be a surprise though - lazy teachers these days rarely give out much homework, I guess for fear they have to mark it.

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Great result for 5under1and and what a turn out for the national semi final. The 3 eyed people of Pennywell really came out in force.

Pumped at Old Trafford and we still won't see a Mackem in Milan smile.png

Tsk, jealousy is a bad thing David. How long is it now since Newcastle last won a major trophy? 1955? With the average life expectancy in Newcastle there can't be many Geordies alive that can remember that far back.

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Tsk, jealousy is a bad thing David. How long is it now since Newcastle last won a major trophy? 1955? With the average life expectancy in Newcastle there can't be many Geordies alive that can remember that far back.

don't get ahead of yourself stuart. You've a long way to go before you win it, though given the luck you've had along the way I wouldn't bet against it. It was 1969 actually when nufc last won a major trophy. The fairs cup. A European trophy at that. When was the last time safc were in euro competition? 1973. I wonder how many mackems remember that.

If you fancy going back to the SOL you'll certainly never be stuck for an available seat. Unless they're playing nufc of course.

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don't get ahead of yourself stuart. You've a long way to go before you win it, though given the luck you've had along the way I wouldn't bet against it. It was 1969 actually when nufc last won a major trophy. The fairs cup. A European trophy at that. When was the last time safc were in euro competition? 1973. I wonder how many mackems remember that.

If you fancy going back to the SOL you'll certainly never be stuck for an available seat. Unless they're playing nufc of course.

That's only cause the fat Geordies take up two seats - one for each arse cheek :rolleyes:

Anyway in all seriousness I've already said I think the Vidic goal might yet cost us a place in the final. Shame really cause I think Sunderland are the best bet out of the two to stop Manchester City winning the cup.

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Not that I am a big fan of English football but I'm guessing that with 1973 being forty-one years ago and 1969 being forty-five years ago, I would hazard a guess that that it could be that there are, just ever so slightly, more people remember the 1973 Euro Competition that Sunderland were involved in? Yes, people will say that there is only four years difference but how many older people would have witnessed Newcastle United in 1969 that might not have been still alive in 1973? How many people were born after 1969 that support one of the respective clubs?

I'm one - born in 70 I wasn't alive to see Newcastle win anything. But I can remember watching TV footage of the 73 Cup Final with my Grandfather and seeing Jimmy Montgomery pull off wonder save after wonder save, and seeing Dennis Teuart twisting and turning down the wing. It's the earliest football match I can remember watching. I've no idea if we were watching it live, or if it was highlights, but it was in black and white and it took me years before I realised Sunderland actually wore red and white tops.

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Spirited come back by the Mackems yesterday against Southampton extending the run to 4 matches without defeat. In contrast Manchester United are in complete disarray having lost their fourth of five matches in 2014. They now go into Wednesdays match without Vidic after his ill considered lunge earned him a red card today.

Wednesdays second leg match is going to be a cracker. I can hardly wait.

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Too right , should be great. The Mackems should make a day of it, go down a bit early & maybe Man Utd could show them what a f**kin trophy looks like !!

9000 mackem 'super fans' heading down tomorrow. The same magnificent fans who couldn't be a*s*d to turn up for the home leg. Might have something to do with the free buses provided.

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