Name: Michael Martin (True Faith - Newcastle Fanzine)
Age (If you want): 29 + VAT.
How long you’ve supported the club: First game in 1970

What was your pre-match predictions for the game (honestly)?
Score Draw

Where you happy with the result? And why?
Coming on the back of a bad defeat at Reading and a calamity at home to Portsmouth, yes I was happy at the draw. We were poor and last season, we’d have collapsed. We didn’t play well but we didn’t give in and that’s got to be a plus point to take from the game. It preserved a fantastic record we have in Sunderland, 12 games undefeated on Wearside

I think it’s fair to say we had the better of the first half and maybe should have put ourselves in a comfortable position, were you relieved to be level at half time?
There’s no doubt about that. I was waiting for the HT whistle. I’d go as far as to say it’s the best half of football I’ve ever seen Sunderland play but you didn’t take your chances and that’s a major flaw in Keane’s team

Pundits have slated your defence for our goal, claiming they didn’t react quickly enough, are they to blame? And has defensive problems been a common occurrence for you this season?
That’s lazy journalism to be honest. On Saturday, because we were too narrow Sunderland were able to get down the flanks and get lots of crosses in. The best tactic is to deal with them at the source in my opinion but Sam wanted to go narrow and flood the midfield for quite justifiable reasons after last week at home to Portsmouth. We haven’t been winning the second balls in midfield and a few teams have scored against us because they have had too much time and space on the edge of the box. Emre can be a smashing little player but he loses his discipline too often and he needs to work hard on that side of his game - he loses his man at vital stages. Barton clearly isn’t match fit either and we missed Nicky Butt. Its not a back four problem as such, it’s the whole team - we aren’t playing as a unit at the moment. That will come. Sam’s strength is to get teams to be stronger than the sum of their parts – we’re not there yet. Things haven’t settled down. Good sides have good partnerships running through the spine of the team and I’m not sure Allardyce has worked out what he wants his to be, particularly in the middle of the defence. But we need to sort out the middle of the midfield as well

I was glad to see Martins on the bench at kick-off, is Owen and Viduka you’re preferred front two? If not, who is?
Viduka - Owen is my preference but they have barely played together and that shows. Martins has a lot of qualities but he showed when he ran offside towards the end of the game, when we had a chance to win it, that vision isn’t one of them, currently

Chopra nearly scored when he hit the bar, would that have been a hard pill to swallow or are Newcastle fans not that arsed about him?
It’s a funny one that because when he was at NUFC he never looked like a Premiership player - he didn’t have the pace, upper body strength and he can’t seem to put his foot through the ball. When he went to Cardiff we wished him well. He was never a big player for us but obviously as a local lad we had some affection for him and wanted him to do well because although he’s not good enough for us, he’s a decent lad and a life-long supporter as are all of his family. Chopra was stood in front of me at the Solano derby and went mental when he scored. You saw his reaction when he got the equaliser in our 4-1 win last year. Going to Sunderland obviously doesn’t win him many friends but from his perspective I can’t imagine any other Premiership clubs coming in for him and he put his career before his tribal loyalty. It will all end in tears though

A lot has been said about Joey Barton’s tackle on Dickson Etuhu, presuming you’ve seen a replay, what did you make of it?
Those kinds of tackle happen every game. As usual the anti NUFC press went completely OTT - I don’t remember anything like the kind of coverage given when Shearer was scythed down in our previous game and had to go off injured. Your man was okay to come out for the 2 nd half so that tells you everything about the violence of the two incidents.

Mike Ashley made a point of sitting in the stands with you lot, do you think he’s the genuine article or just someone after a few PR stunts?
Depends what you mean by the real deal. He wasn’t acting the billy big balls, he just went to the match with a few of his mates and stood with the lads. He’ll be judged on how he runs the club, what decisions he makes and the strategy he follows. PR stunts? You mean like paying for a load of jakeys acting up at an Airport and it being in the press before the taxi - meter had started running?

What did you make of Milner’s goal? Can you blame our keeper for it?
I think he put a very dangerous ball across the front of the goal and Sunderland failed to deal with it. I was down quite low - about four rows from the front and my first impression of it was he’d picked it out lovely. Having seen the replays I think Gordon should have had it covered. A very poor goal for Sunderland to concede. Seems like we aren’t the only ones to have defensive issues.

What did you make of the atmosphere?
Much better than our last three visits when the place was flat as a fart and there were loads of empty seats. Seems like lots of people in Sunderland like coming to see Newcastle United play. Can’t say I blame them. I have to say however, you have some proper whoppers in that South west Corner or the Charva Curva as we’ve christened it. Dear, dear me. 2-1 finger gestures? How small time can you get?

The game seemed to pass by pretty well, did you experience any trouble?
None at all but I never do as I don’t go looking for it and it seems even those who do go looking for it these days can’t get it because Northumbria Police are on top. Of course the smaller ticket allocations reduce the opportunity for the pagga. It’s different from the 70s and 80s, a lot different

Anyways are you optimistic for the rest of the season? Whereabouts do you think you’ll finish?
I’m okay about this season. I’d guess we’d finish top half and given the changes that have happened at the club; new owner, Chairman, manager, staff, loads of new players and given what Allardyce inherited from the previous two managers and Chairman (very little), that has to be a good achievement. We’ll kick on from there next season with some investment I’d guess

Who was your best player?
I thought Faye held it together for us when we were under cosh in that first half. Had that been last season or the one before and we’d have caved in

Who was your worst player?
I don’t like that question. Alan Smith had a difficult game but given he is a centre - forward playing as a defensive midfielder that’s understandable. He did get one off the line as well so it’s unfair to pick on one player. We weren’t great as a unit

What did you think of Sunderland ’s performance?
As above. I think it’s the best 45 minutes I’ve ever seen from Sunderland, though I don’t go out of my way to watch them as you’d expect. I thought Sunderland looked well organised, you pressed us all over the pitch, you looked strong, lots of work-rate - a lot of perspiration, but little inspiration

Who was our best player?
I’m not sure really. The obvious answer would be Jones but he should have punished us more as we were so poor and he never really got away from Smith did he? All in all however, I do think he has the potential to be a decent turn. Where he’ll end up I don’t know. Spurs when Berbatov leaves perhaps?

Who was our worst player?
I don’t think that’s fair either to be honest. I don’t think you had a player who deserved to be called the worst - okay then, Gordon, he had little to do but what he did have to do, he did very badly

Where do you think we’ll finish this season?
At the moment you have relegation form. You are drawing home games you should have won - NUFC and Fulham - and you are losing games away from home. You have won only two games this season - obviously Spurs at home with the last minute job from Chopra and Reading at home. That doesn’t look great to me. I think you’ll be in the mix right up until the end of the season. There’s a fixture at SJP in April that might be interesting for you

Your predictions for:

Premier League:
Man Utd

FA Cup:
Chelsea

Carling Cup:
Arsenal

Relegation:
Derby, Boro and Sunderland

Please rate the following 1 to 10 (10 being the best):

Atmosphere:
7/10

Your fans:
8/10

Our fans:
6/10

Your team:
4/10

Our team:
7/10

Who’d win in a fight? Keane or Big Sam? And why?
Allardyce, no bother. He’s a bigger lad and in the clinches he’d tell Keane, Shearer wants a word with him

Final word...
The overwhelming majority of Sunderland fans at the SoS on Saturday have never seen their team beat Newcastle United. 28 Years! We’ll Meet Again!

Michael Martin was chatting to James Henderson