Lucky I only put a pound on it or I think I would have given some poor sod on the phones an earache. Yes I had a look afterwards and it is in there. Had to get the magnifying glass out though of course. I guess to be fair it favours most people, but I wasn't too pleased!
Surprised that JWP appeared to be the chosen one to take free kicks / corners obviously the manager expects him to start most games?
There are videos from his England u21 trip showing him winning the crossbar challenge and scoring from 3/4 volleys. He also was good at free kicks during preseason training. If he keeps practicing and working hard, he could be the new David Beckham (without the tats).
24 was our starting elevens average age, not bad. Comparatively WBA had an average age of 28.5, with the youngest player being 26!
I don't think Shaw dove. Just one of those tricky calls. Technically, it was an unfair challenge. And technically, it was in the box. So going by the strict rules of the game, it's a penalty kick. OTOH, it wasn't a situation where Shaw looked likely to do much so to give Saints a PK and a great chance at goal and really the game... I would not have blamed the ref if he'd let that one go. I think I might have. OTOH, between that and the offside call you could make a good argument Saints should have had at least one and therefore did enough to win the game. Defense looked very good, especially Lovren and Wanyama. Chambers doesn't seem to offer enough going forward and looked at times to be a tad slow. OTOH, he was likely (properly) concentrating on mistake-free football and he was solid when he had to be. Not going to bump Clyne from the side, but looks a decent backup for now. And he could of course, improve quite a bit given his age. Offense looked pretty blah. JWP had most of the bright spots, and Rodriguez should be commended for his workrate. He's fast and always working and that still causes defenses problems but we still need more of a presence. Lallana was disappointing. Ramirez and Davis didn't do much though they didn't have much of a chance either.
I remember that when Shaw first started (obviously he is a vastly experienced PL player now ) he was less likely to go forward...so I'm sure Chambers was just instructed to do what he was supposed to do which was defend. Can imagine he was too careful to take risks. Only a personal preference, but find the word 'offense' offensive when talking about football....far too American
William Hill, think it's a fairly common clause though. I wouldn't recommend them anyway as their odds are never particularly generous but I have an account with them from a few years back and don't really want to have accounts with a load of betting companies! I just use them to put little wagers on occasionally.
If Rickie continues to hit the ball as accurately and as powerfully as he does, into the corner, I don't see a keeper getting to one legally. The ball is being stopped by the net before the keeper's hand gets to the position where he can make a deflection. Having said that, let's say the referee allows an illegal dive and the keeper gets his hand to it - well, good luck, because a keeper is going to need a strong hand to keep one of those out. Matty used to have a tremendously powerful side foot, whereas Rickie puts his laces through the ball but does it with extreme accuracy. I back him to keep scoring his penalties.
Was the opposite in preseason...he looked pretty nippy and very dangerous going forward, but got caught out rather regularly. Worried me considerably at the time, but it might've been simply that he was told to bomb forward as often as possible to see what he has in him, because he was far more careful tonight, and to good effect. I like the way that Shaw did it last year; first ten or twelve games he barely got forward, and he started to mix in those runs when he got comfortable at this level. Now, he knows when the opportunities are there, and he has discovered to his delight that he can absolutely destroy your average Premier League winger or fullback.
Agree with this. Chambers was obviously under orders to prioritise his defensive role and did it very well. We know from preseason that he can knock in a good cross when he does go forward but this was a game when we could have been hit on the counter. I'm sure we'll see a lot more of him this season, but he's not ready to unseat Clyne yet.
I thought Chambers had an excellent game, on the whole. He may not have the dash of Clyne, but he was certainly more than capable of holding his own and will press Clyney close. It certainly answers any faint lingering questions as to whether we needed Richardson or Butterfield kept on.
Couldn't catch the game today as I had one myself. I really can't be bothered to sieve through the whole thread, can someone give me a quick overview on how we played generally? Our best + worst performers and how the penalty came about? Cheers.
I think the Lambert factor will get us some coverage on MOTD. Rickie is England's darling as they kept calling him on Sky...partly and partly
I'd love for you to be proven wrong (nearly as much as I'd love to be proven wrong about Fox) and after today's impressive showing, I'm very confident you will be! Absolutely sublime tackle to dispossess Anelka in the penalty area along with a few other important tackles/interceptions. Can't wait to see him with Yoshida, who I feel is one of our most underrated players.
