No complaints about the ref in general, but yeah...as much as it would have been a silly ending to an equally silly game, if he sees that it's a penalty and Lambert's powering it into the corner. I'd thought that it had hit his thigh on first viewing, and I suspect that he did as well; heh, it'd be downright silly to believe that Shawcross left his arm out on an uncontested 30 yard free kick, after all.
Haven't seen it but we have got away with one or two earlier this season. Over 90 minutes didn't sound like we were seriously robbed, and second place would have just been silly.
Fair play to Artur Boruc for speaking to the media after that goal. 1721: PLAYER REACTION - Stoke 1-1 Southampton Asmir Begovic Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, who scored inside 15 seconds: "It's a cool feeling but it is a fortunate incident. I feel bad for Artur Boruc when that happens but it's a good point for us. "Hopefully we can keep the confidence going. It does not make a goalkeeper look good and after it I did not want to celebrate against him. Hopefully I can get a couple more! "We are at home and want to get points. We had to graft one out in the end with the conditions. "It's the worst conditions you can play in. The wet you can deal with but the wind makes it difficult. You don't know where the ball is going to go." Southampton keeper Artur Boruc: "I don't want to remember it anymore. I blame the wind for that. I'm really sorry for my team-mates and our supporters but what can I say? What happens, happens and I need to bounce back. I promise to get those two points back. "These kinds of things happen to goalkeepers. It has happened before and will happen again. "That's the life of being a goalkeeper, it is not always beautiful. I look forward to the next game."
My head says in the circumstances a point is a perfectly good result and I would have taken one before the game, but I'm still thoroughly gutted.
The new Artur Boruc apologizes to the supporters for an error that could have happened to anyone. The old Artur Boruc would have gotten sent off for trying to headbutt the wind.
Possibly, but nice. The downside is that whatever happens, Saints will drop a place tomorrow, as Everton play Spurs at Goodison Park.
Didn't say he did great, I just disputed the fact that he had the whole goal to aim for. As it goes, in general I thought he did ok, but no where near good enough to challenge for a start. I wouldn't be devastated if he moved on in January, just mildly disappointed that he didn't fulfil his potential with us
After reflecting on it a bit, there are probably more positives than negatives to be taken away from that game. Rodriguez scored and generally looked lively. JWP played very well, definitely a better than I expected against a physical Stoke side. Wanyama was good and the defense again proved it's mettle. I think all of us knew going in this was going to be a tricky match-up based on style, and we drew only because of a truly freak goal. On the downside, I would say that we did look a bit sloppy on the ball today at times. I realize we massively won time of possession but that wasn't really going to be a question. Also, it has to add up to 100% but in reality there was a large chunk of time where neither side could really claim to be effectively in possession. A lot of passes were played too hard and Saints seemed to get bunched up at times. But the conditions played a big role in that. The big picture to me is that we didn't prove we were a top four side today, but we did at least show we aren't going away easily and could at a minimum hang in there among the top eight or so all year. Which would be a pretty successful season. It would have been awesome to win and be in second, but realistically we're in as good shape as we could hope for. And there is still room for us to improve. IF we do get to Champions League I think it will have to be done just like this. First half we manage to hang on at the fringes, and then second half we really start to click and make a move. We're still gelling a little as a team, the players are for the most part young. It's reasonable to expect improvement.
From the BBC on Jay Rod's goal The ball hung in the air for Rodriguez before the Saints striker cleverly headed into the ground and over Begovic. Is anyone that clever , or was it flukey like their goal ?
From the BBC on Jay Rod's goal The ball hung in the air for Rodriguez before the Saints striker cleverly headed into the ground and over Begovic. Is anyone that clever , or was it flukey like their goal ?
