Was at the game last night. Was one of the most exhilirating games of football I have seen in a long time and the atmosphere was electric, full of incidents and talking points. Our fans were magnificent. If WHU had not been reduced to 10 men I do wonder whether we would have got a point from the game, they ran us ragged in the first 20 mins. Schneiderlin had the freedom of midfield in the second half and ran the show but we lacked incision and did not take our chances. Puncheon was great when he came on, lovely skills and running on the ball. We had 17 efforts on goals - do that against Derby on Saturday and the 3 points will be ours.
Good Morning Southampton fans. I hope you don’t mind me venturing onto your forum to add my thoughts on last night and our clubs as a whole. I thought it was a good game last night and both sides had their moments. When it was 11 vs 11 I think we certainly had the upper hand. We were knocking it around quite nicely I thought. The penalty situation was very strange. A real bitter sweet moment in getting the penalty but knowing we would only have 10 men for the rest of the match. I’m still undecided on the sending off. Taylor should know better than to raise his hands but I think the shove was in the chest and Sharp went down clutching his face. Probably a yellow card for both would have been sensible and wouldn’t have spoilt this top of the table match. I think we still held our own for the rest of the first half and matched you and the half time score was probably about right. Second half, as expected, you played it around well and put a lot of pressure on us. It always felt like a goal was coming from you and it was no real surprise when it did although clear cut chances weren’t coming along all that often. We still looked threatening on the break with some nice passing at times. Of course we hoofed it up the pitch plenty – we are an Allardyce team afterall but I think you were also guilty of long ball football occasionally. Green played really well and made a great double save when Lambert looked certain to score. I thought we lost a bit of shape when Cole went off as he had been holding it up well although Maynard certainly looked lively when he came on and was a little unlucky not to score late on. Overall probably the right result. I thought we showed great determination with 10 men but I thought you played some nice stuff and moved the ball around quickly. Not a bad atmosphere in the ground. You had a great turn out and we could certainly hear you at times although your chants of “we forgot that you were here” slightly contradicted the “your not singing anymore” chant! Just one thing I want to ask if you don’t mind. “When the Saints go marching in” is your song. Obviously this is your song and lots of other clubs have stolen it. But the slow version that you sing, who started singing that first – you or spurs? A good night in the end and both sets of fans probably went home quite happy. I hope that we go up and you come with us. You are a club I always want to do well for some reason so hopefully our next meeting will be in the big time.
He grabbed Sharp by the throat: http://twitter.com/#!/RichMerrydown/status/169692825892564992/photo/1
Ok fair enough. I hadnt seen that and was just going on what I could see from my seat last night. Having said that, Sharp went down easily but I suppose thats the way the game is now.
Welcome mate. Don't think there are many on this site that would object to this sort of post. Indeed, when the saints go marching in is our song, not sure who started the slowy, so much copying of chants and songs theses days. I assume you have now seen Taylor the throat grabber!
Thankyou Sir. Yes I have indeed seen the taylor picture and agree that it is unacceptable. I was originally just going on what I could see from my seat and what people were saying around me. I do think Sharp went down easily but as I said above, thats the way the game is now and Taylor shouldn't have given him the opportunity to go down and get him sent off. I must admit, a few weeks ago I thought you were going to fall away but you seem to have come back and you are certainly our main threat for the title. You are a good club and one that I cant imagine any West Ham fan has a problem with and we should both be in the prem IMO.
Yes, I was pleased to see Cole go off as he is a good striker for this level, whereas Maynard is still probably finding his feet with you guys. His departure meant that you sat deeper which was great for us. West Ham were my favourites to win the league this season and with their winter acquisitions they are going to be hard pushed. However, I would rather have our run in than yours . Good luck.
Can't believe Ian Abrahams is being such a mug about this. Even presented with the picture of the hand around throat he says it's a yellow, talk about being blinded by bias.
Very true. Even so you'd expect somebody paid for being a journalist to be better with his opinions - if his opinions are so important he should be paid to tell them to the country, then I would hope his opinions would be based on fact. He first starts harping about it being a hand to the chest - bleating that Sharp is a disgrace to professionalism for getting a fellow professional sent off (like West Ham don't do this?) and then when proved with evidence it wasn't a hand to the chest, he still claims it's a yellow most weeks. My word.
Did you read the report of the game on the BBC too, it seems to have been written by a West Ham fan... The media just love sensationalising everything it feeds their ego thinking that the public hang on their every word. Unfortunately too many people get confused between the media outlook and the truth. Look at the hypocrisy of replacing Capello with Pearce, most people would say that is ridiculous but as they wanted Capello out and a nice juicy scoop, they just focus on Terry and the FA.
I just saw it then, either I'm far more biased towards Southampton than I ever thought or it actually was written by a West Ham fan! Sadly media sensationalism is unavoidable - sensationalism creates stories and stories sell papers! I like the facts and a chance to build my opinions from them but this doesn't go for everyone - some who find themselves too busy to find the facts, some who are too lazy and enjoy having opinions fed to them by morons like Abrahams. It's the way journalism works!
Mate please let me assure you that all west Ham fans think he is a pr**k and we always talk about how embarassing he is. As you can see in my posts above, i originally thought it was a shove in the chest but I was happy to admit I was wrong as soon as I saw that picture. Having said that, I would expect a bloke like Billy Sharp to be able to stay on his feet after such a gentle shove. Both deserved yellows i think.
Fair enough, he certainly does seem to be a prick. Sharp may or may not deserve a yellow but I don't know how it can be argued Taylor should have only been booked? If I was a ref I'd send any player off for grabbing another around the throat.
The problem with football these days is that it is so hard to tell who actually is hurt or just feigning it and if a player is injured from a foul or just diving. Aside from the Sharp/Taylor incident one could also highlight Lallana and Faye too.
Yeah I suppose a grab around the throat is a red in todays climate. It was a split second of madness by Taylor and it seems a shame that the whole game was spoilt because of what was basically school boy stuff. They are all grown-ups and none of it was serious and I think yellows for both would have been more sensible. However, as I said, in todays game the referee probably didn't have a lot of choice.
That would have been a red card 10 years ago - you can't grab someone around the throat, clear act of violent conduct. Not as clear as punching someone or headbutting someone obviously, but still a straight forward decision for the referee.
The problem is you could say the same about the Evra/Suzarez or Terry/Anton Ferdinand situation, as they were both split seconds of madness but people expect footballers/politicians/celebrities to always act perfectly otherwise you know what will happen...
