I have to say i thought Lovren JUST got a toe to that tackle, im happy for MOTD to prove me wrong when they magnify it later as im sure they will.
He certainly did, only the slightest touch on the ball but then again it was only the slightest touch on Sturridge, too.
It's a tough one. Because as much as you have that school of thought, there's also the 'play Lambert/Osvaldo/Jay* against Palace and hopefully see them kick start their season in front of goal' school of thought. *delete as appropriate (Lambert in most people's case it would appear, including mine)
I think when you watch it back you might be a little bit surprised. Trevor Francis was adamant it was a pen but i called it different as the ball slightly changed direction. As i said im happy to be proved wrong as i felt we were owed one last week.
What a change a week makes. Had a sneaky feeling we'd take this one 0-1, and we did. Happy days. Just got back in having been up since 4am so time to chill and try and prise my eyes open until the end of MOTD.
Reserve judgement on the penalty until i see it high definition super enhanced with Lawro and Hansen volume turned off. Thought there might have been a touch first but Trevor Francis' adamancy on not needing to see it again sort of sowed some seeds of doubt. Thought Davis was awesome when he came on and the team actually played better (not that they were playing badly before.) Calls for Ramirez to play should be changed to calls for Davis to play IMO. Lallana was great today too. Thought the ref and linesman had a shocker of a day getting loads wrong although not helped by Moses' constant diving. I thought Adam went down too easily but Moses was Embarrassing at times especially the 10 times prior to Gerrard's second free kick (which was actually a free kick the other way.) For the goal we were lucky IMO the ref didn't blow for a penalty before the ball went in (which wasn't Gerrard as someone above said) although I'm sure Lambert would've buried it. Only disappointment was Wanyama again. I think criticism is fair and can't understand people not understanding it. If you want to see evaluations from non 'ex' red and white tinted glasses then: http://www.redcafe.net/threads/victor-mugabe-wanyama.357254/page-17#post-14208872 All in all a good day's work but thought Liverpool were pretty poor and Wanayama should be rested next week. Don't think we'll need a destroyer in there.
BBC 5live discussing Saints with this question... Peter in London says Cortese is not a divisive factor at Southampton. Do you agree? My reply got onto it, I said... "Cortese has been huge for SFC. Unpopular decisions? At times, undoubtedly. But he wants what's best and continues to deliver."
Wow. People are genuinely tweeting the BBC to criticise Cortese. Now it's a discussion on his leadership and persona.
I thought that Rickie and Dani's understanding and link up play was much improved today and it's only a matter of time before they are banging the goals in.
Yep, I was listening too. The presenter made the point that The Daily Mail said that Cortese was divisive. Well, they would, wouldn't they..? The chap who came on the line nearly got what I would have liked to have said out, but was countered when presenter Darren Fletcher mentioned that Matt Le Tissier's nose was put out by Cortese. Of course, the answer that the fan forgot to say was that, although MLT's nose had been put out, the ordinary fans got over the shock of Cortese's decision within a matter of days, whereas the media ran and ran with it, as if it was some kind of outrage. Well it wasn't, and it is isn't, and I agree, I don't think Cortese is actually divisive. He makes decisions for the good of the club, and he admits his popularity suffers in the short term, but it returns again once people realise why he does as he does. Look, the problem Cortese has is that the media have a set view of SFC, and to a lesser extent, so do our fans. Our view is rapidly changing, because we are becoming more and more aware of Cortese's ambition. The media's view remains slow to change, even though many improvements have been made at SFC but, to be fair, it is still early days. When we start regularly beating teams and hanging in there amongst the top teams, then the attitude will begin to change permanently. Saints are starting to bang on the door, only the media can't yet hear us.
