grezz

That was offside (and why didn't Fonte just step)

Lovely bloke and a quality ref. I haven't thought about Brian Butler in years but as soon as I saw this thread I saw him and his stocky, smiling figure dressed in black running around a football pitch well into his 50's. You never saw any crap in a game he was reffing. RIP Brian and thanks.

Sweet. Boston Goals!

No, we won't come close but I couldn't care less really. If we get top 10 I will be thrilled. Thrilled is something old people are but I've promised myself I'm gonna be it if we get top 10.

Awwww.....no Bearsy Investigates on Crystal palace. I am spending a whole post, which I would usually dedicate to extremely insightful post-match comment, just to register my disappointment about that. I even have the site in my favourites on my work laptop and I NEVER put personal stuff on my work laptop. Can't say I blame you cos it's clearly a lot of work and maybe a bit soul destroying when anonymous idiots who contribute nothing good at all to anything, take the easy target and start sniping. In any case.....awwwwww, a little light in my week has just died

Yellow star falls out of Sterling's ass shocker!

This. First thing i said when he'd finished setting up. Fantastic save though

It's so nice to have Clyne and Shaw back in the starting line up. They make so much difference, not that their replacements did anything wrong. They're just not Clyne and Shaw. Lovren was magnificent again and I also have to start eating my words about Fonte. He has looked assured in pretty much every game this season. I thought Vic and Morgan bossed it, even though Vic can give cheap ball away sometimes (and against a better side than Liverpool were today that could be a problem). His presence in there is big though. Osvaldo is looking like he's starting to click too. He's clearly got the quality and it's just a matter of time before he catches fire I reckon. Massive result and performance. The back 5 were different class today.

basium meus pinguis unus

I hate him already the eloquent, knowledgeable, impartially analytic swine!

Boruc is a good keeper. Best we've had in a few seasons that's for sure. When I think 'weakest link' he doesn't usually spring to mind.

That's a worry then because he was one of our best players.

No, that's simply not true. He didn't have a bad game. He had a decent game under the circumstances and at times his touch let him down more often than we are used to seeing but that's forgivable in my opinion. When you have little support to help you out you need to try something different to keep the thing and hold the opposition off. I think that contributed significantly to him losing the ball more often than usual (and yeah, occasionally he could have done a lot better). Add to that the amount of work he got through and the effect that fatigue has on performance and it's perhaps not so surprising he was poor in the second half. As has been said above though, I would also challenge another striker to have played that role much better on that night. Not a brilliant game from him for sure but there's no way in hell he can't hold his head up.

Sky Sports ratings are giving Ricky a 7. I think that's generous myself but taking the relative scores they've given to everyone else i'd say they are pretty much spot on.

Unfortunately SRL has been poor in the 2nd half. Given cheap ball away. I could find a few easier targets to shoot at in that England team though. Wilshere, Walcott, Walker, Milner.........take your pick.

Lolz. Quality comment in a quality thread!

Oh yeah, massive Saints fan is Simon (well, he was anyway) and a good player himself. Gave me a fair few assists on Sunday afternoons. He did love a tackle too!

How does he feel about Pluto having it's planet status removed and what is his stance on Jupiter hogging all the moons?

It is in anyone's language. When clubs practice set pieces around the box it usually involves having someone to stick it away. They don't just cross it into the box and start patting each other on the back.

I've read a lot of comments saying how poor he was and to be honest i just can't figure out what people were watching. He was poor with his distribution in the first half and made a few errors. I'll give on that. Second half he stepped up to the plate and a stray shot or two notwithstanding he did well. Overall i'd give him a 6. Nothing special but not so bad either. The one thing he was, was involved all game. He didn't go missing. Over the 3 games.....he's had a bloody good start for someone just fitting into a team. I'd like to see a bit more box-to-box from him but he started showing signs of wanting to get forward yesterday so let's see how that pans out.

If you hear anything be sure to let me know.......

Sorted then. We just have to turn up with any old team and we're through. Not.

He wasn't 'in-line' though. It was very, very, VERY marginal but if you take the Saints goggles off you have to admit he was offside by the width of a gnat's wing, with his upper torso slightly leaning into the offside position. Had the goal stood I don't think anyone could have complained just as we can't that it wasn't given. Holding a lino up on a charge when the decision is that tight is just daft (and does it get tighter than that?). As it was, the lino got it right. He was able to see the point of impact of the pass plus the positions of the respective players in the fraction of a second it happened and he got it right. It was an exceptionally good decision, maybe more by luck than judgment because it should be impossible to KNOW the correct decision in that situation. So for me it's a non-issue. We could have gotten lucky very easily but we didn't. That's football.

I know i've been on his case already and this has nothing to do with that opinion but......I think it was Jrod. He went towards where he thought the ball was going and it went right over him. Giaccherini had dropped off him

Well......maybe I have no right to be but i'm disappointed, not because I think we have a right to win against Sunderland but because we are better than what I just saw by a long way. For me it was all a bit choppy and we didn't click. Ricky was off his game and Jrod was, well, Jrod. He reminds me of the younger Theo Walcott where something might happen but no one knows what it will be, least of all him. I don't like that. He might pull it off now and then but at the end of the day he just isn't good enough for me. There were, however, plenty of positives. I am extremely confident about all our new signings. All 3 of them ooze class and are a different standard of player that i've been used to seeing in a Saints shirt in recent times. I could easily turn, have the op and offer Wanyama my services. JWP had an excellent game and was probably man of the match over the 90 minutes. Gaston looked motivated and played well. Even Fonte had his head screwed on a bit tighter than usual, as much as I would prefer he wasn't in the team (not withstanding shooting from 35 yards for reasons known only to himself in that situation). It was a fine header from a fine cross. He does that sometimes just to make me feel guilty about me making him my scapegoat for everything. The ref........I will diplomatically say he was 'harsh' on us. The Jrod goal.......for me he was level but when it's that tight it can go either way. The penalty......i've seen them given and I felt it was just about enough for a pen. So I think with those 2 incidents we were unlucky we didn't get one of them in our favour. Sunderland.......I don't think they were bad at all. They scored and tried to spoil the game from there and I think they were disciplined and they did that quite well. I can't knock them for that.