Or did the referee initially give a free kick our way on the Ramirez/Long incident, but then the reaction of the West Brom players subsequently changed his decision. The ref pointed the free kick at the West Brom goal, indicating that it was a Southampton free kick. Do you think Ramirez intentionally elbowed Long in the face or was simply trying to get Long's arm off him. Long was technically committing a foul too by pulling Ramirez back and didnt get a talking to for that. If Luke Shaw is out for Saturday then who do you think will now play left back? Forren, Hoivelt or is it worth taking a gamble and playing Matt Target, who is supposedly a decent prospect. COYR
I don't think Ramirez intended anything other than trying to shake Shane Long off and he just caught him badly. Long reacted as if he'd lost a limb and I think that swayed the referee too. The seemingly honest endeavour of Olympians from 2012 has been quietly forgotten. Clyne will go to LB, and either Jack Cork could possibly be RB or, and my preference, Frazer will come in at RB. Clyne is a perfectly capable LB and actually likes playing in that position. The rest fall into their usual places.
You may have a point, others have said that the initial free kick decision was reversed, which is technically incorrect, as Long's was the first offence. Other than that one decision I think the ref had a reasonable game, and to be fair it wasn't a niggly match with lots of fouls anyway. Hooiveld did OK, including putting in one great cross from the left, but don't expect to see him playing LB against Spurs (barring another disaster!). Hopefully Shaw is OK, but Clyne on the left and Yoshida on the right with Fonte coming in as CB would be my guess. Blooding Matt Targett against Aaron Lennon/Gareth Bale would be an act of child cruelty and just won't happen in my opinion. If Clyne was up against Bale, even on the wrong wing, we might stop him some of the time. The only other possibility would be to assign Spider to man-mark Bale wherever he goes.
i think ramirez knew what he was doing, he played very well for 25 minutes and it's a shame we won't see him for the rest of the season as he could have been coming into some good form. The last few games are the least important games of the season despite their being millions of dollars up for grabs and the potential to be a more attractive club for prospective players, we are all but mathematically safe so I wouldn't sweat on Shaw's inclusion. ------------Boruc------------ -Cork--Yoshida--Fonte--Clyne -------Davis----Morgan------- -Puncheon--Lambert--Lallana ------------Rodriguez----------
This sounds like a good shout. He did the same against Kagawa at St Mary's and did an absolutely brilliant job.
I think he was waiting to play advantage should Ramierez have got free. Stupid to lash out but under the circumstances I think both players deserved a yellow- didn't look too hard a blow to me, wasn't looking at him. Hit him in the neck and he went down holding his head looking for the free kick. Can see why the ref showed red though. As for LB I think clyne will go there and yoshi at RB. Shame as I think Richardson is not a bad player, I'm guessing he's not fit? Yes forren would be another option but there must be something keeping him out of the game. By all accounts he hasn't shined in the U21's so far. Not sure Target should be unleashed against Spurs. Glad I couldn't get a ticket for this one now- can't see us threatening them and am worried about our defence in general. So does anyone wish we had signed Buttner now? Sorry!
Good thinking. But is anyone else worried about Lallana/Punch covering the space he will leave if bale drags him out of position?
Also I am becoming less of a fan of Hooivelt every game I see him is. His pace is appauling and is very easily passed by attackers. He seems to rarely pass the ball to Fox, and instead hoofs the ball up the field and the majority of times, this loses possession. It is frustrating to see especially when playing in a team who want to play passing football right from the goal keeper to Lambert up front and he just doesnt get it. Did a good job in the championship though. I think we can do without Ramirez, we have a strong set of attacking midfielders and sometimes his extra touch of quality isnt always necessary. For me I enjoy seeing him develop as a player as he is only young, and he will have a big part in the team in the future.
I think we need Puncheon in the mix somewhere. He and Clyne have been superb together. Puncheon instinctively covers for him when required. In addition he always makes himself available for a short pass. We have definitely missed him in recent weeks.
He did signal a free kick to us. Definitely. I think the reason Ramirez lashed out is we were getting tugged, pulled, pushed, nudged, held or whatever all game and the ref was giving us nothing. Ramirez had obviously had enough. I don't blame him really. He blew his whistle after the elbow so he might he pointed the wrong way by accident.
Did you see the incident in the Spurs game, "Jordi Gomez was fortunate to escape punishment after his boot connected with Lewis Holtby's head", he got away with it because Holtby showed absolutely no reaction, had he done a continental style simulation Gomez would have been off. Spotsmanship won on this occasion.
