Ref Gastón. I've always felt sorry that he's not been fitting in. I desperately wanted him to succeed but this season, reluctantly, I've had to admit that he's not doing it. Then yesterday, just before he made the chance for Adam, I found myself thinking that he was working better. He looked confident on the ball and his passing was excellent (despite what some people seem to have seen for the game he was 15/16 according to Squawka). I do still doubt his pressing ability, though it's better than it was - he seems to have woken up to it a bit. If it's a consistent improvement, I'll welcome him back into the fold with open arms and I hope the crowd will. I suspect a lot of fans are heading towards loving to hate him, unfortunately. Vin
I cannot understand what it is with Saints fans but no matter what team we put out some of them must have a whipping boy. Yesterday West Bromwich Albion came for the draw and the match officials came for an away win but it was Ramirez who broke all their hearts and was the game changer for us. Just thank him. Say well done and move on. There is a big difference between being critical of a player's performance in a game and the kind of concerted witch hunt we have seen from a few perverse fans with regards to some very good players over the last few years. And just for the blokes behind me: Fox is not ****. Guly is not a lazy bastard. Gazzaniga is not ****ing useless. JWP is not a headless chicken. Rodriguez is not a waste of space. Ramirez is not a talentless ****ing tart with a **** haircut. Lambert is not over the hill and should be got rid of fast. Finally I will not print what they say about Osvaldo. I could go on but that is enough.
I think we should be cautiously optimistic about the return of Ramirez to the squad. We've enough neat and tidy midfielders and games like yesterday are the right situations for him. Another comparison with Lallana is that was Adams 250th appearance for Saints. Ramirez has made just over half;128 appearances(incl sub) in his club career in three different countries. That gulf in experience is telling in there individual performances. I also thought it was nice to see a few of the players Congratulating Gaston after the goal and the Northam sing his name before Adams. Good to see the majority getting behind him at games over the mutters of the minority
Agree with this. I think some of us forget how young most of our side are. They are going to have the odd bad ort poor game. Luke is another example. Remember it was only last season when some posters were casting doubts on whether Adam could hack it in the PL!
Jason Roberts says that the challenge by Olsson on Lallana is terrible and how Webb didn't give a red, he does not know.
Ok this could be a stupid question but will she always stay as a lineswomen? Or Can she become a referee?
looks like losing it was said to cover the times he actually does lose it, the times he hangs on by the skin of his teeth and ends up passing backwards, and the times he plays a hospital pass under pressure to someone who is likely to lose the ball. In the event I think Luke did better than I expected and salvaged it but I can't remember where the ball went subsequently. are you the eastleigh manager? I don't expect faultless (yet), but when i've not seen him have a single predominantly good game and every time he plays I see him getting caught out of chased down in the same ways, I can't say to myself he's done well overall no matter whether he's had a moment of match winning inspiration. Dani Osvaldo wasn't the stand out player over all against Man City He fluffed easier chances than he took. I think many of our first choices often have had faultless games. Consistently faultless, fewer, nearly none. If Gaston wasn't consistently faulty in ways that **** me up, i probably wouldn't bat an eyelid. He improved his set piece taking but considering we've got a number of players capable now it seems a relatively low priority. (and to say they've improved it means he's in barn door territory now rather than orbit. The way I think of Gaston at the moment is probably similar to the way I think of kelvin. He's still capable of shot stopping highlights but the rest of his game most of the time is consistently a liability which won't always bite us, but why risk it? Only because we've not got a creative Boruc up front. Gaston is hopefully on an upward trajectory and has time to improve and modify his game, while Kelvin is unlikely to do anything but deteriorate.
I believe she's refereeing in the conference at the moment. Needless to say, being a linesman/woman/person is a lot different to being a referee, so it remains to be seen if she'll actually be any good.
presumably referees are coving a lot more ground. it's not as if she's a big athletic woman equivalent to the average man but i don't know if it would be anywhere near pushing her fitness to referee a top level match and maintain mental acuity.
Paula Radcliffe is 5ft 8 and 8 1/2 stone. She's not a "big athletic woman equivalent to the average man" either. Vin
I'm not always a fan of stats because some of them can be misleading (people continually confuse shots and chances for example) but these are interesting. I think they support the "People see what they want to see" theory. Ramirez had 28 touches in about 30 minutes on the pitch, completed 15 of 16 attempted passes and was dispossessed just once. Only JWP and Guly (who were on the pitch for less than 10 minutes between them) had better pass completion stats and yet Ramirez still gets accused of losing the ball too much.
fair point, but radcliffe is more than ten minutes behind the pace of the male marathon record holder and if we assume that referees have to be at the top of their game fitness wise, presumably she's at some disadvantage. whether it's a meaningful disadvantage, I don't know. also don't want to see sian massey pissing by the side of the pitch. or do i?
already explained that most of the times I see gaston fail he doesn't even make a pass or gives it to someone else in an invidious position. but if people want to argue statistics and highlights while implying i've not seen the game that's their prerogative. statistics... i'm never sure of them. different sources vary wildly
n.b. I wanted to see ramirez do well. I haven't seen it since adkins. apparently forum posters want to see anyone criticising ramirez as someone who doesn't want him to do well.
Not at all. I think that posters here (certainly myself) are objecting to the criticism being levelled at his performance in this game. He played well and won us the game. What more do you want from a playmaker sent on to do a specific job - to take some risks, open up the play, up the tempo and get us three points. Job well done on all counts.
Lallana won us the game. Gaston played a big part in setting up the goal. Apart from that, he didn't do much else apart from two tame shots into the keepers arms. The fact that this performance was better than many of his previous ones, in itself, says a lot.
I'll be defensive of Gastón RamÃrez for as long as fans hound him, whilst accepting terrible performances from Lambert. He was poor, again, yesterday.
