That definitely deserves a mention - they also played the ref well. How he managed not to book ANY of them was a mystery to me - but then I'm easily mystified. I didn't think Davis was that good - his final ball went missing a lot of the time and he wasn't his fluid self. Clasie I'd put down probably as my Saints MOTM. Fonte had a poor game, Long was non-existant, Tadic couldn't get the ball over - unless he floated it (as many have already said) into either Butland's arms or the defence to clear, Ryan was so-so, Mane was poor when he came on and Pelle was muscled off the ball (mainly illegally) and had no support. Oh well - onwards and upwards. I'll be away for the Villa and Pool games, so I imagine we'll play amazingly well!!
Exactly my feeling. I was watching a reasonably non-threatening situation develop then suddenly the ball was in the net. At that point I knew it was going to be a long game and even suggested to Onionman Jr that it was going to be awful. Vin
Having watched the highlights, and not having seen some incidents that I hoped to see, can anyone shed any light on the following? First half, long ball forward by Stoke, contested by VVD and (I think) Walters. When the ball was still around 5/10 yards away, VVD went down on his knees, holding his face. Anyone get a clear view of what happened? Also first half, Soares getting his customary blood injury. Looked like an elbow was used, from where I was sat in the Kingsland, but not had it confirmed anywhere. Whilst the ref was faffing around, dealing with this, Arnoutovic was trying to goad Fonte into doing something stupid. Anyone get a clearer view of that?
From what I could see, VVD got a hand in the face and Cedric's injury was definitely caused by an elbow as Bojan jumped. Should have been a booking in both cases, but the ref (as was the case all game) bottled it.