Great effort, guys! I really enjoyed this one. I've thought from the start of the season you'd stay up. I suggested Lambert for England last year to general derision. Doesn't look so derisive now that he's tied with Jerome for highest scoring English striker in the Prem. What are the odds he leads three successive ascending leagues in scoring? (Answer: a lot better than they were three years ago.)
Just watching it again now. Tony Gale who was commentating on this is a complete imbecile. He doesn't understand football. He keeps moaning that we are keeping the ball when we could be "getting it in the box". Sky need to send their commentators on a coaching course. He keeps missing the point that having Rickie come on fresh worked. He's doing my head in. Still it's 2-1 at the moment and I think we'll sneak an equaliser in a minute .....
I was listening to some of the pundits last night especially at half time. "It's a long way back for Southampton I guess they will just try to keep the goals against down" Then someone else said who you couldn't see...."That was the old Southampton and although I agree that it is unlikely they will get anything out of this match, you are mistaken if you think they will just lie down" How true was that........I saw the hour long highlights on Sky and I was so proud........and yes I have seen at least one comment that said we should have won it. Now although NA didn't actually say those words. He did say the two goals we let in were down to poor clearances indicating in theory we should have won it. Young Shaw certainly seemed to master his job, his run and cross for Puncheon's goal was superb Hoover got into his usual half astride behind his charge a couple of times. Yoshida played well except he tends to panic a bit when there is a lot going on around him.......He is learning to stay in control of his emotions though as proved on other occasions. The impact players coming on really caught Chelsea by surprise some really nice runs from Ramirez stretched them as did the running at times of clyne. The game belonged though to the midfield they played their hearts out and really deserved more perhaps than they got. How ever if they had offered a draw before the game I would have snatched their hand off. Good one Saints............
OMG - just equalised and Tony Gale says "just a slight bit of mis control" for Punch's flick up and volley. What a cock. This has been the worst commentary ever.
It was also very interesting to watch the summing up afterwards. I had to smile every time Matt Le Tiss referred to Southampton as "we". To be fair, whatever his feeings towards Nicola Cortese are, he is firmly behind Nigel Adkins, and he admires Rickie lambert greatly. FLT is right though, Tony Gale is a moron. He didn't like Southampton playing keep-ball at all, despite the fact that it meant that Chelsea were denied possession for long periods of the game. As for saying Punch's shot was a slight bit of miscontrol, I wish I couold miscontrol a ball as powerfully and accurately as that!
How can people question Nigel's tactics last night? By saying if Lambert had started, we might have won. No, no we wouldn't. Morons.
Amazing what a game like last nights can do for your morale on a cold Thursday morning. Been cheerfully whistling the RLSGM tune to myself all day, whilst taking all the compliments on my happy disposition!
Love this from the ES!Lampard, like the rest of his team-mates, had shrunk somewhat as Southampton rallied from 2-0 down but he was still impressive to watch as he read the game around him, his head swivelling this way and that like a hungry barn owl. With the score at 2-2, however, Rafael Benitez decided that the team would be better served by Torres.Oh dear. In the context of the game, it was a pretty dismal swap. Nigel Adkins had used Southamptonâs substitutes like smart-bombs. First he introduced Ricky Lambert, who took three minutes to score. Then he brought on Gaston Ramirez, who did not net himself but was applying attacking pressure when Jason Puncheon thumped in Southamptonâs equaliser.Torres, by contrast, crashed into the game with about as much impact as a plate of blancmange thrown against a bouncy castle. In 10 minutes he squandered one clear chance and three decent positions. By injury time he was hiding on the right wing.
