Gaston did some good defensive work today. He's no lightweight...on 2 occasions (in front of Kingsland North) he tackled strongly and came away with the ball when you thought he would be second best. Was hardworking today and got his reward with the goal...conditions didn't favour anyone today.
True. Like I said, I'm not terribly bothered by it. At the same time, the number of threads with negative Ramirez titles that have been started in the last week is a little out of whack. You'd think we were playing terribly and Ramirez costing us two goals a game. So if you start a thread about how bad Ramirez's free kicks were, you should expect that someone will remind you he also did a lot of things well today and to stop moaning because it wasn't that big a deal. Those dreadful kicks were probably the most entertaining thing that happened in the whole match, so there's always that as a plus.
Gaston frustrates me. That is all. Godders, congratulations on reaching 4,444 posts. You win a lifetime supply of Pochettino's own brand of Pickled Onions.
Wow 4,444 posts reflects just how much of my life I waste at this bloody computer. I need to get out more.
Ramirez worked hard, scored a good goal and hit some **** free-kicks. I am going to go and have my dinner and try and calm down. I also have to explain to my wife why my son now thinks Mike Dean is a twat, Andy Carroll is a twat and Kevin Nolan needs a smack, the whinging tosser. Just popped in to agree that Gastons free kicks were poor today, but as most of you know I am a fan. He was ok today. Not great. Not poor.
I don't know why Fox wasn't taking more set pieces, love or hate Danny Fox there are few who take a better in-swinging corner with pace than him...
The way Ramirez took his goal shows a player who is not lacking in confidence. I have often criticised him on this forum but it was a lovely, casual finish!
I said the same (and agree on most situations) but Jake raised an interesting point - West Ham are obviously very physical and solid in the air, so scoring from set pieces isn't exactly something we should put too much on, and they can counter easily with one of their normal big hoofs downfield. Danny isn't the fastest, so if he's taking a corner from the right wing that gets comfortably cleared, we're at a huge disadvantage on the counter if it gets hoofed into that area.
Thats odd point me to the point where I said Gaston was poor today? I said his free kicks were poor they were apart from a good one in the first half. I didn't comment on the rest of his game because it wasn't relevant but if I had I would have said he was probably just about our biggest threat today apart from when Jrod came on. Also odd how you assume I always criticize players I rarely comment on specific players and actually the last post I made on the match thread if you can be bothered to read it was to say that Fox did well (considering the panic people were in about him) and Jrod was exceptional when he came on(I thought his performance albeit short was the stand out one of the match). Also the very post you quoted I said the players played pretty well and worked hard which I would say is a fair assessment of the match we were pretty good but not exceptional wouldn't you agree? Of course you don't have to agree with me where did you get the idea that that's what I think. The one and only point in my post was to argue that we should be allowed to discuss gastons free kicks. Hardly the most entertaining of topics but I feel a legitimate one. Somehow you turned that into my having a massive go at gaston and accusing me of always criticizing the players. I look forward to seeing what this post miraculously becomes.
That's a good point actually perhaps he was just unlucky with the conditions. I don't see why we don't mix it up more in general. We always seem to have pretty much one designated taker and don't seem like wanting to change it. Surely different deliveries will be harder for the defenders to deal with as its more mixed up. Maybe gaston was hung out to dry by the other players who didn't fancy it in the conditions!
This sums up the morons I had the misfortune of sitting in front of today in northam. Disgusting thick chavs, "f***ing c**t" this, "f***ing c**t" that and some good old fashioned racism thrown in. I had taken my girlfriends 7yr old son along, appalling language. Back to Gaston- lets not be too hard on him he did some very good stuff too, yes a few of his kicks were crap but that tended to be later on in the game and conditions were poor. As I've been saying the whole season he will come good, next yesr will be year of the Gaston.
Great finish for the goal. Couple of nice touches in the game. Not saying any more cos I'll get shouted at Weather probs didn't help.
Free-kicks were a bit shocking today, but overall I thought his contribution was good. Worked very hard although he still needs to toughen up a bit, this isn't Italy Gaston.
He made one outstanding tackle in the Kingsland North corner which a defender would have been proud of. I've got no issues at all with his defensive commitment or his ability. I just think he might be a bit selfish at times, but you could say the same for all our strike force.
It's a mystery why Fox or Lallana weren't taking all the free kicks and corners other than when they were in range for Lambert. Not only are they both better at taking them but Ramirez can be an aerial threat
Looked to me very much like they have been working on the training ground on what Vin Jr and I call "the free kick of uncertainty". Lob it up close enough to the corner of the goal that the keeper can't decide whether to go for it or ready himself to save if someone gets on the end of it. It's beautiful when it works and relies on a perfect touch. The problem with it yesterday (and I think the reason the crowd was a bit negative about trying it) is that in the dry where 90% of the crowd was sitting, it looked like he was duffing them without reason. When I went pitchside at half time I couldn't believe how hard it was raining and how strong the wind was. I just think the weather defeated the skill required. The point to learn might be for the team to change the tactic when the weather's that bad and it's hard to get grip. I suspect that in better weather we'll be singing his praises when he gets it right. Vin PS Vin Jr takes an interest in such matters as he's planning to replace Artur when he retires in six or seven years.
Artur had a few crazy moments yesterday...how can a keeper be so calm on one occasion and so weird on another. Is he toying with us?
