The Week That Was - All The Build-Up You Need For Sunderland v Swansea City & More!

Welcome back to The Week That Was, where we provide you all the ammunition you need for this weekends game against Swansea City, plus we bring you some of our selected favourite articles from the world of football blogging this week.

At Roker Report we have all angles covered for every Sunderland game, home and away, so be sure to check the site regularly for top quality interviews, opinions, articles and lets not forget our 100% SAFC Podcast.

Here's your essential information for this weekends game at the Liberty Stadium...

• Cult Heroes: Each week our man David Boyle profiles a character who played for both us and the opposition, and this week Dave picked out a cracker with the man who made the legendary "G-Force" of Gates & Gabbiadini the force they were. Ladies & Gentlemen, it's the original Welsh wing-wizard - Colin Pascoe. Just CLICK HERE to read.
• Fan Focus: This is where we chat to a fan of the opposition, usually someone who writes about them such as a journalist or top blogger, and this week we went the blog option and got some top fan opinion from Jim White, the brains behind Swansea site SCFC.co.uk. To see what they're thinking about the game, all you have to do is CLICK HERE.
• Preview: Here's where we bring you all the team news, our predictions, and a tasteful tune for the occasion among the many levels of our preview. If you want the complete low-down, you'll be wanting to CLICK HERE.
• Podcast: Come download The Roker Report Podcast, where each week we bring you a true fans opinion on all things Sunderland every single week. All SAFC, all the time, and no messing around when it comes to opinions. If you want to hear some real informative stuff, then just CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Don't forget to check back soon after full-time as we'll have our full match report online for your pleasure with our account of what went on, plus ratings and all that sort of stuff.

And now we'll have a little look what else has been going on right here on Roker Report, as well as shouting out our favourites from elsewhere...

Chris Weatherspoon kicked things off with Talking Tactics, where in he broke down what went wrong against Newcastle out side of, well, everything. A great read that generated much discussion - CLICK HERE

Also to round off the Newcastle game, Dan Williams popped in with his fantastic weekly poetry section, Roker Rhymes - CLICK HERE

This week we also suffered a rubbish day beside the seaside as we slumped to defeat against Brighton, and we had that game well covered with previews, plus a chat with some Brighton fans, and of course the match report. I'm sure you're only really interested in the latter so if you want the match report - CLICK HERE

Michael Graham chipped in with his regular column Captains Blog. This week much less controversial than the last, but all the same bang on yet again. This week he's tackling our dearth of striking options, and the failings of the club to address some of our major needs. To have a read just CLICK HERE

We also promoted a great FanPost to the front page. This one tackles a tough issue which is when does 'banter' become nothing but abuse? It's a tricky one, so why not head over and add your two cents - CLICK HERE

We also have a Top Ten every single week, and in light of some tasty tackles flying in during the Wear-Tyne Derby, David Boyle presented us all with his Top Ten SAFC Hardmen. See who made the list by CLICKING HERE

Sadly, we also heard from Man On The Street this week, and shock horror, he wasn't happy. If nonsensical rants are your type of thing, you're best of CLICKING HERE

And last bu by no means least, our wonderful paymasters SB Nation now have a FREE iPhone App. I've had a download, and it's pretty damn good I must say. Really good for reading Roker Report and all the other great blogs on this site. CLICK HERE for more information.

And so that's it from us for the week, unless you happened to pick up a copy of The Durham Times on Friday, where you'll find we are now featured columnists every week. Now though, time to dish out our favourites from our fellow writers and bloggers this week...

We start at BackPageFootball.com - a site I've had the privilege of appearing on a few times, and this article hits their exceptionally high standards. This tale concerns Javi Poves, a defender for Sporting Gijon B who retired recently aged 24. Why? his indignation at the way football is run. Check it out - CLICK HERE

Next we're off to Wales to see Mirko Bolesan. Top quality blogging here, with his Ten Ways To Improve Football. Not only will they improve the game, but make it more enjoyable. What are they? You'll have to CLICK HERE and find out for yourself.

And lastly, there's THAT Getafe advert. If you haven't seen it, it involves sex, zombies and football and it's utterly amazing. Get yourself over to 101 Great Goals for a watch now - CLICK HERE

And that's it, enjoy today's game, download our podcast and look forward to more supremely good Roker Report articles over the next week or so! Or in the more recent future, check out our match report from Swansea which we'll serve up shortly after the match.