Howard will be out for Everton after his straight red today, Morgan will be out for us for his 5th yellow.
Joel Robles, 23 year old Spaniard brought in in the summer so clearly from atletico madrid. Martinez had him on loan at wigan so he clearly sees something in him.
Can vaguely remember him, but no idea how much of a step down he is from Howard. Big miss to lose Morgan for the game.
You can thank me for your clean sheet as I went agaisnt popular advice and stuck by Luke Shaw(fantasy football) as I knew you would keep a clean sheet!
Nice finishes by Jay. Again goes with the thinking that when he has to react quickly, he's best in front of goal, compared to having time to think.
Just back from the game. Excellent result and a really thorough and controlled performance. The defence did great and the 3 midfielders: Cork; Davis; and Schneiderlin, were superb. The front 3 were all lively, Lallana exceptional, Jay looking lively all game and finishing well, and a really solid display from Rickie. It was good to see him back in the groove even though he was being strangled by Turner or Caulker most of the game, which as per seemed to go unnoticed by the officials. Another few points: The officials were continuously poor and Marriner oblivious to everything in front of him and gave out 2 nonsense yellows to Shaw and Schneiders which is costly for the Everton game. The fans were in good voice and good spirits. Theirs seemed very touchy on the subject of Mackay, but we supported them over the shirt change, so it ended fairly amicably. Finally, I thought Cardiff were very poor. After about 5 minutes, I thought they looked off it, and we looked very much on our game, and felt it was only a matter of when we would score not if. Lots of long balls from them, and generally ugly football. Maybe, that is what Tan objects to. Great win.
To be fair I think the Shaw one was a booking. It shouldn't have been, but I think he completely missed the ball!
Indeed, both the Shaw and Schneiderlin yellows looked immensely harsh on first viewing but on the replays Luke seemed to inexplicably totally miss the ball and Morgan looked to have a couple of sly nibbles at the back of Campbell's legs. Would have liked to see them properly but from what I did see the referee may have made very good decisions in both cases.
Congratulations lads! Outclassed us in every department today and deserved all three points. No point looking for excuses we were well off the pace dictated by the Saints today, though Medel was a big loss for us at the back.
