hans gruber Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 My son is 8. Arsenal was the first team he ever saw on TV therefore he supports them. Today I laughed and teased him mercilessly . He blames arsenals " power rangers" strip. I still hope to turn him around one day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 The ref was awful. I fail to understand why week after week you think the refs (who have clearly been crap) have done well Even the tater on NBC was stunned how how incredibly inconsistent the ref was in our game and said he had a shocker We have this debate after every game and it's not because the refs are rubbish, it's because some people think they should be biased towards Saints on every occasion. He got a couple of minor decisions wrong but on the whole he let the game flow whenever possible and in that sense was partly responsible for a great evening. If you think that every ref is sh!te then that probably means that you don't understand their job / the laws / what is s expected of them. They can't all be bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 We have this debate after every game and it's not because the refs are rubbish, it's because some people think they should be biased towards Saints on every occasion. He got a couple of minor decisions wrong but on the whole he let the game flow whenever possible and in that sense was partly responsible for a great evening. If you think that every ref is sh!te then that probably means that you don't understand their job / the laws / what is s expected of them. They can't all be bad. I'm not being biased towards saints. But it is quite telling when so many neutrals say he was crap and so many saints fans say he was crap when we won 4-0. It is just you. Again. Where have I said I think every ref is Shyte? Why have you brought that into this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derry Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 The way we played last night reflected the results teams like Leicester, Watford and Chrystal Palace are getting by forsaking slow possession for win the ball and get it forward or in behind the back four quickly to fast aggressive runners. Last week we had more possession but lost, this week 35% possession, won 4-0 and threatened a few more. The 4-4-2 was flexible and the Arsenal playmakers were never able to open us up. Martina, never mind the goal, never gave Walcott any room, deserves a run. JWP and Davis followed the script and in their own way contributed. Luckily the linesman was asleep when Davis headed the ball back or we wouldn't have got the first goal. Clasie and Wanyama were good in the middle, The two centre backs along with the full backs subdued the Arsenal front three while Mane and Long terrorised the two centre backs. The high tempo aggression and directness were the missing ingredients. great result. More of the same from whatever team we play. No more smartass selections or tactics please, just keep it simple and ruthless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 I'm not being biased towards saints. But it is quite telling when so many neutrals say he was crap and so many saints fans say he was crap when we won 4-0. It is just you. Again. Where have I said I think every ref is Shyte? Why have you brought that into this? Apologies, I was using 'you' in the plural, but must admit I had quoted you. I haven't seen any comments on the ref's performance apart from a handful on here, which is hardly representative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 The way we played last night reflected the results teams like Leicester, Watford and Chrystal Palace are getting by forsaking slow possession for win the ball and get it forward or in behind the back four quickly to fast aggressive runners. Last week we had more possession but lost, this week 35% possession, won 4-0 and threatened a few more. The 4-4-2 was flexible and the Arsenal playmakers were never able to open us up. Martina, never mind the goal, never gave Walcott any room, deserves a run. JWP and Davis followed the script and in their own way contributed. Luckily the linesman was asleep when Davis headed the ball back or we wouldn't have got the first goal. Clasie and Wanyama were good in the middle, The two centre backs along with the full backs subdued the Arsenal front three while Mane and Long terrorised the two centre backs. The high tempo aggression and directness were the missing ingredients. great result. More of the same from whatever team we play. No more smartass selections or tactics please, just keep it simple and ruthless. All very true. Was it Davis who headed the ball back? I thought it was an Arsenal defender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 We have this debate after every game and it's not because the refs are rubbish, it's because some people think they should be biased towards Saints on every occasion. He got a couple of minor decisions wrong but on the whole he let the game flow whenever possible and in that sense was partly responsible for a great evening. If you think that every ref is sh!te then that probably means that you don't understand their job / the laws / what is s expected of them. They can't all be bad. Sorry Whitey but Moss was appalling. He had it in for Long right from the kick-off and was clearly determined to get Long booked. He called so many decisions wrong, along with his lineos. He gave bad decisions both ways, though in the first half he called everything against us, he came round to giving decisions to us when he realised he was supporting the losing side. I can accept poor referees, they are human and doing a thankless job, but Moss was to all intents and purposes either cheating or totally incompetent. He always is. Ironically he gave a free kick to Long later in the 2nd half which was blatantly not a foul, Long stumbled over his own feet, the number Woss had wrongly called against Long during the game was incredible. I'll support referees usually, but that performance was inexcusable, thankfully it didn't affect the outcome (except we arguably should have had 5). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derry Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 All very true. Was it Davis who headed the ball back? I thought it was an Arsenal defender. Davis was last man on the left when the ball came across from the right he was just offside when the ball was played slightly behind him so he headed it back and it was Bertrand's cross that Mertesecker headed out to Martina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Sure it was the Everton home game last season where Moss was ref and although we won 3-0. People were scathing at how poor he was. The worst refereeing performance I can remember has to be Kevin Friend at home to Liverpool last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coxford_lou Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Sorry Whitey but Moss was appalling. He had it in for Long right from the kick-off and was clearly determined to get Long booked. He called so many decisions wrong, along with his lineos. He gave bad decisions both ways, though in the first half he called everything against us, he came round to giving decisions to us when he realised he was supporting the losing side. I can accept poor referees, they are human and doing a thankless job, but Moss was to all intents and purposes either cheating or totally incompetent. He always is. Ironically he gave a free kick to Long later in the 2nd half which was blatantly not a foul, Long stumbled over his own feet, the number Woss had wrongly called against Long during the game was incredible. I'll support referees usually, but that performance was inexcusable, thankfully it didn't affect the outcome (except we arguably should have had 5). I laughed when he gave Clasie a hard time for walking across the pitch to come off (not realising he was being subbed)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hasper57saint Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Sure it was the Everton home game last season where Moss was ref and although we won 3-0. People were scathing at how poor he was. The worst refereeing performance I can remember has to be Kevin Friend at home to Liverpool last season. Agreed. He bottled two definite penalties for us and ignored the keeper handling outside of the box.They're not all bad but even against Spuds a week ago we never won a 50/50 free kick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjii Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Moss is not a good ref. He had no impact on the result last night because his wrong decisions against us were balanced by wrong decisions in our favour (although some of those were offside related so not his fault really). He is not good though. He is slow, bumbling and inconsistent in his use of discipline. Clattenburg is probably the best. Moss is one of the worst. Anyway, back to the game: obviously we played much better and just seemed to be playing with more intensity. It's amazing what an impending transfer window does to Wanyama. That said, Arsenal were awful. Another telling example of the poor quality Premier League. Obviously Sanchez and Coquelin would have helped them but their first choice defence and striker were garbage. Walcott was garbage. It's a shame we've looked half-arsed so often as someone unfancied really could finish quite high this year. Spurs to win the league, sadly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 All very true. Was it Davis who headed the ball back? I thought it was an Arsenal defender. Davis was nowhere near offside when he headed the ball back from the pass forward from Clasie to Bertrand. Both Koscielny and Mertesacker were between him and the goal (plus Cech of course). Granted Mertesacker was arguably level. See picture.[ATTACH=CONFIG]1895[/ATTACH] Davis contributed a huge amount last night, critical involvement in the build up to the first goal, superb long through pass for the second (to Long who laid it off to Mane who crossed for Long to score). Critical thing last night was that Ronald did not sub Davis for JWP (because he was already on) and so we kept up our pressing game with the high tempo that Davis drives. The midfield in general were superb last night, Wanyama, Clasie and Davis really made us tick, even JWP was good, though his indecision in front of goal cost us at least two more excellent chances. He was though battling throughout and contributed and didn't cost us last night, fair play to the lad who gets a lot of deserved criticism, including from me. Unlike Derry stated, Martina gave Walcott acres of room, but Walcott did not take advantage, he was poor all night seemed intent on helping his old team (my comment based on the first half when I had perfect view of Martina, it may have changed in the 2nd half when it is difficult for me to see him so closely). No matter, his goal and some other attacking involvement were excellent, but defensively he is very suspect and had to be bailed out several times by Fonte especially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 I laughed when he gave Clasie a hard time for walking across the pitch to come off (not realising he was being subbed)... Agreed. His treatment of Long when he was injured (from yet another unpunished foul) was also laughable, although I suspect it was a blood injury and so technically he was correct to get Long to leave the pitch, but the way he handled decisions was just a complete joke. He seems incapable of communication with the players so as to explain his decisions, in most cases because his decisions are inexplicable Don't want the criticism of the referee to detract from our performance, he didn't actually make any difference, but it is buffoons like him that give PL referees a bad name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DT Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Amazing result, even including Vic's Arsenal trial during the game. Special mention to Ward-Prowse, who I thought was excellent. Clasie also superb, and Long a real handful. Much better without a big immobile bloke up front forcing us to play it in the air and bypass the midfield. Most important though was that they had fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Agreed. His treatment of Long when he was injured (from yet another unpunished foul) was also laughable, although I suspect it was a blood injury and so technically he was correct to get Long to leave the pitch, but the way he handled decisions was just a complete joke. He seems incapable of communication with the players so as to explain his decisions, in most cases because his decisions are inexplicable Don't want the criticism of the referee to detract from our performance, he didn't actually make any difference, but it is buffoons like him that give PL referees a bad name. I read that the Arse fans are starting a petition on Change.com demanding that Moss be disallowed to referee their matches after his performance last night. I think that we should start one too asking him to be banned from officiating our matches. Him and Friend both, the two most incompetent referees when it comes to officiating at St Mary's. But it really is rich that Arsene and the Arse fans blame the referee for their players not being up for it against us. I realise that it is hard to accept that whereas they are normally the better team, last night the better team was us. They need to accept that when in the last four matches they have played us home and way we have emerged victorious in three of them, that is indicative that instead of Arsenal having a bad day in the office, it might just be that Koeman gets our tactics right and our players lift themselves into wanting the win more. Arsenal are a great passing team who play good entertaining football, as do we. But observing the precedent of lesser teams beating them shows that if their opponents close them down quickly and deny them the space and time to play their way, if their players are tackled hard and knocked out of their stride, they have no response. The football we played last night was not so pretty, but boy, was it effective. All very well for Wenger to moan about the goals that he felt should have been disallowed, whilst ignoring the couple that might have been awarded to us by another referee. He should be grateful that under different circumstances and better finishing that the score was not 7 or 8 nil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harvey Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 We have this debate after every game and it's not because the refs are rubbish, it's because some people think they should be biased towards Saints on every occasion. He got a couple of minor decisions wrong but on the whole he let the game flow whenever possible and in that sense was partly responsible for a great evening. If you think that every ref is sh!te then that probably means that you don't understand their job / the laws / what is s expected of them. They can't all be bad. He didn't, he was awful...Longs tussle with Mert was six of one, half a dozen of the other....his goal should have stood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainchris Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 The way we played last night reflected the results teams like Leicester, Watford and Chrystal Palace are getting by forsaking slow possession for win the ball and get it forward or in behind the back four quickly to fast aggressive runners. Last week we had more possession but lost, this week 35% possession, won 4-0 and threatened a few more. The 4-4-2 was flexible and the Arsenal playmakers were never able to open us up. Martina, never mind the goal, never gave Walcott any room, deserves a run. JWP and Davis followed the script and in their own way contributed. Luckily the linesman was asleep when Davis headed the ball back or we wouldn't have got the first goal. Clasie and Wanyama were good in the middle, The two centre backs along with the full backs subdued the Arsenal front three while Mane and Long terrorised the two centre backs. The high tempo aggression and directness were the missing ingredients. great result. More of the same from whatever team we play. No more smartass selections or tactics please, just keep it simple and ruthless. Never a truer post.... This system has been tried before to a high degree of success. Koeman has been guilty of trying to be too clever before now and immediately changing the team selection and model. This time we must learn from our success and stick to what works for us and to a large degree for many other teams who are enjoying success right now. Stick with it RK.... The universe is sending you a powerful message for Gods sake listen this time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harvey Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Amazing result, even including Vic's Arsenal trial during the game. Special mention to Ward-Prowse, who I thought was excellent. Clasie also superb, and Long a real handful. Much better without a big immobile bloke up front forcing us to play it in the air and bypass the midfield. Most important though was that they had fight. How was JWP excellent?, he was ok....ran around a lot and nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloridaMarlin Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Worst piece of officiating yesterday was in the Liverhampton-Leicester match, right at the end, when Kaspar Schmeichel went up for a last-ditch corner. Liverhampton broke from the corner and the linesman completely forgot the keeper was upfield as the ball was played to Benteke and there was only one defender between him and the goal. I know you have to allow for human error on the part of officials, but if ever there was a basic unforgivable error, that was it. But strangely enough, none of the commentators or pundits mentioned it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Charlie Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 No one seems to have commented on how Tadic nearly scored and perhaps should have scored a ridiculously good goal at the end to make it 5. How many players did he beat and how many times did he fake shooting?! Shame. . Tadic was good when he came on (as usual) and assisted Long with a nice pass. However, pretty sure the run you mention was from Juanmi, who was very bright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shurlock Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Tadic was good when he came on (as usual) and assisted Long with a nice pass. However, pretty sure the run you mention was from Juanmi, who was very bright. The fact is Tadic was dropped for a reason, a decision that was fully vindicated. Perhaps the likes of Fitzhugh Fella who get plenty of **** on here for their views aren't completely off the mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Charlie Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 The fact is Tadic was dropped for a reason, a decision that was fully vindicated. Perhaps the likes of Fitzhugh Fella who get plenty of **** on here for their views aren't completely off the mark. I meant he was good as a sub, like against City, Villa in the Cup etc. Usually has a good impact. But Juanmi also good and showed glimpses of what he can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trader Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 The worst refereeing performance I can remember has to be Kevin Friend at home to Liverpool last season. Nothing could be worse than Peter Walton's abject display in Saints v Leeds in March 2010. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Davis was last man on the left when the ball came across from the right he was just offside when the ball was played slightly behind him so he headed it back and it was Bertrand's cross that Mertesecker headed out to Martina. He wasn't. Try checking out the highlights, Mertesacker was level and Koscielny was about a yard behind when Clasie passed the ball. It really is quite clear, stop persisting with your nonsense, you are as bad as Wenger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 He wasn't. Try checking out the highlights, Mertesacker was level and Koscielny was about a yard behind when Clasie passed the ball. It really is quite clear, stop persisting with your nonsense, you are as bad as Wenger. he looked offside on the NBC highlights. only just mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 (edited) He was offside - just but that is offside. Sorry, it was discussed and shown at length (kind of what Wenger alluded to)- from the lino's perspective he appeared to be in line with the last defender but the camera angle showed more than half of his body was ahead of the defender. Cue argument about the definition of "inline" but the Consensus was - offside in the same way consensus was that VVD was ONSIDE and Shlong was offside but not interfering so HIS goal should have stood. Of course we had a proper 'tater not the idiot BT hire He may have been in line with Mertesacker (may) it was Koscielny that was playing him onside, over on the left of the front of the penalty area. He was not offside. the line of the penalty area makes it absolutely clear. I admit my snap is a millisecond or two after the ball left Clasie's foot, but the players don't move that much in that time. I don't watch NBC, but it sounds like they were looking at the wrong player (Mert), typical of so many pundits today, don't properly understand the Laws of the game. http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1895 Edited 27 December, 2015 by VectisSaint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70's Mike Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 We have this debate after every game and it's not because the refs are rubbish, it's because some people think they should be biased towards Saints on every occasion. He got a couple of minor decisions wrong but on the whole he let the game flow whenever possible and in that sense was partly responsible for a great evening. If you think that every ref is sh!te then that probably means that you don't understand their job / the laws / what is s expected of them. They can't all be bad. I personally cannot remember any game where i thought Moss was any good, both live and on TV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
70's Mike Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 How was JWP excellent?, he was ok....ran around a lot and nothing more. Totally disagree he did the job he was asked to do, deny the arse time and space Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffo Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 One thing I noticed watching the game back.. No one seemed to celebrate the goals properly yesterday judging by the reactions on tv. People stayed sat or stood gormlessly clapping. Obviously don't really care. That's our premier league support for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goatboy Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 One thing I noticed watching the game back.. No one seemed to celebrate the goals properly yesterday judging by the reactions on tv. People stayed sat or stood gormlessly clapping. Obviously don't really care. That's our premier league support for you. I, and those around me, went batsh*t mental. Cracking atmosphere last night imho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjii Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Nothing could be worse than Peter Walton's abject display in Saints v Leeds in March 2010. Ha! I remember that. I actually emailed the authorities about that one because it seemed plain biased, even though we won easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Charlie Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 I, and those around me, went batsh*t mental. Cracking atmosphere last night imho. I missed half the first half signing my laptop into the Stadium and then got ill at HT after eating a salmonella filled hotdog just after the laptop fiasco was sorted [emoji20] Saw Long miss an excellent chance just before the salmonella kicked in and I had to go home and listen to the second half on Solent. Have Norwich tickets but may give it a miss. Know a couple of part time Canaries who might be interested if they win tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goatboy Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 I missed half the first half signing my laptop into the Stadium and then got ill at HT after eating a salmonella filled hotdog just after the laptop fiasco was sorted [emoji20] Saw Long miss an excellent chance just before the salmonella kicked in and I had to go home and listen to the second half on Solent. Have Norwich tickets but may give it a miss. Know a couple of part time Canaries who might be interested if they win tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lets B Avenue Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 I missed half the first half signing my laptop into the Stadium and then got ill at HT after eating a salmonella filled hotdog just after the laptop fiasco was sorted [emoji20] Saw Long miss an excellent chance just before the salmonella kicked in and I had to go home and listen to the second half on Solent. Have Norwich tickets but may give it a miss. Know a couple of part time Canaries who might be interested if they win tomorrow. I thought you were out by Ted's statue carrying out your "Dirty Protest"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 One thing I noticed watching the game back.. No one seemed to celebrate the goals properly yesterday judging by the reactions on tv. People stayed sat or stood gormlessly clapping. Obviously don't really care. That's our premier league support for you. I, and those around me, went batsh*t mental. Cracking atmosphere last night imho. Best atmosphere for ages. People standing and jumping up and down in the Kingsland, not normally a hotbed of anarchy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 I missed half the first half signing my laptop into the Stadium and then got ill at HT after eating a salmonella filled hotdog just after the laptop fiasco was sorted [emoji20] Saw Long miss an excellent chance just before the salmonella kicked in and I had to go home and listen to the second half on Solent. Have Norwich tickets but may give it a miss. Know a couple of part time Canaries who might be interested if they win tomorrow. More likely to be your wife's cooking! "The incubation period of nontyphoidal salmonellosis is 6–72 hours, but illness usually occurs within 12–36 hours after exposure". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffo Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Best atmosphere for ages. People standing and jumping up and down in the Kingsland, not normally a hotbed of anarchy. Don't get me wrong I did think the atmosphere was good, as were the goal celebrations in block 2. But my point was the people visible on TV cameras in the bottom row(s) didn't seem to even celebrate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick1976.4.38 Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Don't get me wrong I did think the atmosphere was good, as were the goal celebrations in block 2. But my point was the people visible on TV cameras in the bottom row(s) didn't seem to even celebrate. could have been gooners in our end, thats what it looked like,coz how the **** could somebody not go mental at martina goal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doddisalegend Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Don't get me wrong I did think the atmosphere was good, as were the goal celebrations in block 2. But my point was the people visible on TV cameras in the bottom row(s) didn't seem to even celebrate. Put down to shock. People not used to us scoring........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harvey Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Totally disagree he did the job he was asked to do' date=' deny the arse time and space[/quote'] Well I totally disagree back, he did his usual impersonation of a footballer while the commentators were bigging him up for being the next 'big thing' from Southampton, while not actually being that good. Tbh, I find it embarrassing that we're still persisting with him....if someone can persuade me that he's actually good at something, I'd be amazed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabrone Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Jeez where did that one come from? Brilliant result and what a first goal, hit first time and completely banana'd it. Eat turf Cech. TBH I'm a bit ****ed - played like lemons for best part of 2 months and then put the Christmas stuffing right up the Arse. Got to keep this intensity up now and get the momentum rolling, we're not a bad team when we have our heads screwed on. Still would like a consistent goalscorer as I can't see Long doing the business week in week out whilst Graziano is carrying an injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo_ARG Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 My MOM was Clasie. He had more than 10 interceptions, I'm sure. Always well positioned and pressed at the time it was needed. Victor was excellent too. Long really worked hard out there, but could have scored even more, had heavy touches and was too anxiuos a few times. The first one he scores on an empy net and the second one was a softie by Cech. Still, the goals will give him a confidence boost, he has a lot more to give to the team based on what he did last year. I don't think Koeman was the guilty part for the losing streak. He didn't see the light like some are saying.This is not the first time Koeman uses this counter-attack tactic with Mane and Long playing as poachers, he did the same against Palace. It's just that this time the players executed, plus Mertesacker was an absolute mess at the back. The players didn't have the right attitude, this time they wanted it more than Arsenal. The whole Arsenal team was dreadful but still, you have to credit to the Saints as they took advantage of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cat Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Griffo has a point, however sadly this is now prevalent at most, if not all top flight grounds. Check highlights of most goals scored by the home teams and you'll see people clapping politely like they've just witnessed a batsman time an on drive for 4 on the first morning of a test match. Proper celebrations are the preserve of a hardy few blocks and the away fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cat Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 As for the game, we won it by Long and Mane pressing from the front, squeezing the play and denying them space to get Ozil into decent positions. Add their ponderous, sluggish CB's into the mix and our midfield working their collective nuts off and you have the recipe for a win. After some fair recent criticism Koeman showed just how good a manager he can be last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simo Posted 27 December, 2015 Share Posted 27 December, 2015 Btw did we play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Charlie Posted 28 December, 2015 Share Posted 28 December, 2015 Btw did we play 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 ? More 4-4-1-1 I would say with the two wide midfielders (Davis and JWP) tucked in quite a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandwichsaint Posted 28 December, 2015 Share Posted 28 December, 2015 More 4-4-1-1 I would say with the two wide midfielders (Davis and JWP) tucked in quite a lot. A decent system but it relies on your 10 and your 9 keeping the oppo back 4 fully engaged. Last night was a perfect storm for us, VW and Clasie didn't give them an inch, JWP and Davis did all that can be asked and Mane and Long asked questions all night long. With the players we have 4-4-2 / 4-4-1-1 makes more sense. The 4-2-3-1 can leave our full backs exposed and the '1' makes us pretty predictable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shance Posted 28 December, 2015 Share Posted 28 December, 2015 Well that was exactly what we needed. We have been lacking in intensity for a 90 minute period for some time now but that was as good as i've seen us play over 90 minutes since the Chelsea game. Wanyama and Classie were excellent in midfield and in our system that is the most important part of our game. It gave us a solid platform to build from and allowed Long to make some decent runs as we were winning the ball a lot higher up the pitch than in recent games. Big shout out to Martina. Had a solid game and scored an absolute wonder goal. The curl he got on that strike was just unreal and that first goal took a lot of pressure off the rest of the team. Lets hope this gives us the confidence to beat a very good West Ham side now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted 28 December, 2015 Share Posted 28 December, 2015 According to Wenger a pretty lucky win he is supposed to be an expert and I am not But 4 0 two goals disallowed and a shot hitting a post seems a thrashing to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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