And still 2nd in League...so still playing well whilst not likely to take the title. They struggled today, but that's what happens when teams play high tempo as we do...the opposition are more likely to make mistakes. A few teams have had off days against us, including Arsenal, Everton, Chelsea, Man City and, although we lost, Man Utd...they don't like it up 'em!
Yes, I radio switched today driving home and Stan Collymore was the only person to say that we actually were the reason City were bad.
Don't want to rank our players today, they were all fantastic. We fielded 11 players (including the subs) who were plying their trade in the Championship last year, a fair few of them in League 1 the year before that, and they took a team of overpaid mercenaries to pieces. They played with a hunger and desire that City would do well to learn from. Special mention to the Cork and Schneiderlin, both have massive engines, and it's because of these two that Pochettino can use this high pressing style, he knows he can rely on them to get wherever they need to get on the pitch. Lambert destroyed himself for the team today, could barely limp into a trot by the end. Again...outstanding from everyone, so, so, so proud to be a Saints fan tonight.
Boruc-8 Clyne-8 Yoshida-9 Hooiveld-9 Fox-8 (great pass for lamert then davis 2nd goal) Davis-8 ( shocking corner which led to city goal) Schneiderlin-8 Cork-10 (awesome display made barry look pathetic) Rodriguez-9 Lambert-9 Puncheon-8 Richardson-7 Lallana-7 Ward-Prowse-7
I must admit after watching the highlights I think 7 for Fox and Rodriguez was a bit harsh. JRod especially looked more dangerous than I had noticed while watching the game. Top performance from everyone, still really really happy.
If Fonte was fully fit for the next game would you drop Hooiveld or Yoshida to bring him back in. Tough decision if you ask me. Thought Both centre backs were superb today!
Don't forget we have Forren who we would expect to be good, but is unknown right now. + Shaw, Ramirez and Mayuka missed out on the squad!!!
Forren should be fully fit too. It's hard to drop JH or MY after their displays even if Fonte and Forren look like they will be are favoured pairing.
Goal.Com's ratings are farcical. 2.5/5 for Jos and Morgan. Get outta here. http://www.goal.com/en/match/81094/southampton-vs-manchester-city-fc/player-ratings
Won't be doing all ratings, but Morgan's man of the match for me. Broke up so many attacks in the middle.
hahaha Samir 'non-existent' Nasri a higher rating than Cork, Schneiderlin and big Jos?! That's the reason I've never used that site before and never will again.
Fox was probably our worst player today but he still had a good game and probably deserves a 7/10 which really says something about the overall performance of the team.
Davis took that corner not Fox, and it wasn't as bad as it first looked (although I was cursing at half time). On MotD you could see that he was trying to pick out someone (?) on the edge of the box but it was just intercepted. I am surprised though, that Fox wasn't taking the corners from that side of the pitch. He may not be the greatest player but his in-swinging corners are second to none. Also, his pass to Lambert for the second goal was superb. I don't know how you can say that Davis wasn't exceptional either. I thought he easily had his best game for us.
is anyone still disppointed we didnt spend heavily in the transfer window? From worrying about defensive cover we now find it hard to drop Jos or yoshida for Fonte or Forren, so have all the central cover we need. We also seem to have attacking options to spare, and Guly and Ramirez to come back from injury. Boruc has stepped up and made the keepers postion nailed on, so we seem to be ideally suited across the pitch. One last point : How the ****ing hell was Sir Rickie ignored for so long in the lower leagues?. the man is simply immense, and the best £1 million ever spent. Had someone picked him up in his early twenties he would have been a certain england centre forward for the past 6 or 7 years. I still miss Sir Nigel, and know he could and would have kept us up, but The Don has picked well in MP! In Cortese we trust.
On any other day he'd have been my MOTM. As it was, he was my runner-up. Cork was absoloutely sensational. For me, the best 90 minute individual performance at SMS from a Saints player since Morgan against Palace last season (on Boxing Day?). I very rarely give 10s, but I gave Morgan a 10 then and I've given Cork a 10 now.
I think he's trying to say that it was Fox who Davis was trying to pick out on the edge of the area - hence "Davis and Fox's awful corner". It presumably was pre-planned. As for Fox not taking those corners, I agree that it would have suited him (very much so!), but the guy next to me did wonder if maybe MP was concerned about City breaking down that flank, and therefore didn't want Fox cut adrift on the other side of the pitch. And yes, he suggested that to me BEFORE City broke down that flank and scored haha!
I fully agree with you. Cork was just magnificent last night. But also very pleased with our defending as well. Hooiveld and Yoshida got stuck in and Yoshida made a crucial tackle in the first half as well. I have not seen us defend as well as that in a long time. Our defending has been chalk and cheese this season. We were all over the place at the start of the season but we have adapted to the PL and now we have kept the Champions at bay for the whole of the 2nd half which, at half time, I thought we wouldn't do. I thought City would come out all guns blazing and go on to win. But it became apparent to me within a minute that Saints would not let them take control. The first 15 minutes of the 2nd half was quite simply sensational from Saints. We had City penned in their own third of the pitch, let alone half. That is why we won the game IMO - we didn't sit back we took the game to City and got the luck we deserved when Mr Barry kindly restored our 2 goal lead.
