What the hell was Fox thinking? Shocking tackle and a clear red card. Saw myself on MOTD - heading for a swift exit after the 3rd goal.
I was moaning at the ref at the time but fair play to him, both our sendings off looked correct. The only possible thing is that Long should have been called up for a foul before the elbow.
I think he was trying to play advantage. To be fair to him, Ramirez would have got away if he hadn't elbowed Long in the face.
Don't think it needed to be made into a referee's game by MOTD. Yes there were 3 reds but they were all correct decisions. Luckily that detracted from our poor performance which the panelists took as a blip from our good form of late. However it also saw West Broms excellent performance pushed to the sidelines. I like how P. Neville backed us to have a good second season.
Saints were terrible today lost to a mediocre WBA side. Would struggle to pick any Saints player that can hold their head up after that display. Fox - shocking Jos - way to slow Ramirez - inaffective and Rodriguez disappeared in the 2nd half. Where was the passion?
Ramirez showed a lot of class and invention before the sending off. If anyone was ineffective it was Lallana. Just Ava's day at the office. 1 loss in 7. I'll take that as a pattern.
Thought the referee was terrible. We were getting fouled all game one way or another, finally got frustrated and completely lost our composure. I don't think we were at all as bad as the scoreline suggests.
I was just about to post during the game that I thought the ref wasn't doing bad but he'd never heard the word 'advantage' or the phrase 'quick free-kick', about 30 seconds later he played advantage for the first time all game and Gaston got himself sent off!
All three games we had Fox starting instead of Shaw. If Shaw had have started we would have won all three imo. Fox really is horrendous at positioning himself in defense, and isn't nearly as potent going forward. I heard Rickie shouting out in frustration "foxy run down the line," because fox wasn't providing any decent option down the left. His crossing was pretty poor although I thought he had quite a good first half in possession, he looked comfortable in any case. Shaw on the other hand is a far superior defender and makes the opposition uncomfortable every time he attacks. With Shaw starting we have been brilliant under Pochettino. I think it is harder to break down a team that defends. We will be able to tear teams apart when we bring in better replacements for Lallana and Davis who do not provide enough goal threat. Don't get me wrong individually they are very good and have put in some good performances however we need attackers who can score and assist more. Even a slight improvement in personnel across the board will have a tremendous affect on how we we play. With natural improvement and Cortese's backing I feel that only Boruc and Lambert will be at the same standard as this season next season.
???? Hooiveld wasn't bad at all today. Done for pace a few times but then he was covering extra ground with Fox at LB. He also looked reasonable as LB which was funny.
Whilst it was probably not the only reason, we are definitely missing Shaw or a decent Shaw substitute. He is quality in defence and adventurous going forward. Apart from our very poor start, we have had a decent season...one very poor performance and loss doesn't change that. WBA were in a slump but were in a decent position in the league, so are obviously not a poor team. Spurs saved it from being a very bad day. Usually I am bereft after a Saints loss, but I took this on the chin because every team loses matches and luckily we are not in the bottom 3.
Post-match, Mauricio said that Clyne can play LB. The fact he mentioned it probably means that Shaw's injury isn't something that will clear up overnight.
I guess the Saints curse is still there...........Just can't seem to hack it against physical sides and hoofers. As others have said it was a poor performance. I'm not sure why we virtually played with out wide men....Certainly we had players going out wide at times but there was no answer to their running and closing down. Our lot need shooting practice that's for sure Most shots from distance went too far over the bar. In my opinion the set up by MP showed up his inexperience of English football. He does not seem to have a way of dealing with teams that pack their defence and rely on breakaways. Once again for their first goal panic set in at the back. I also didn't think Boruc commanded his box too well although granted but for him it could have been 5/6 goals against. Play like that again and we really will be in the Championship a lot quicker than we would like.........Lets just hope it was a blip.
