There was one outside our box when Lee Mason put the blob of foam down for the ball then paced out the ten yards. Whoever was taking it bent down, threw the foam a couple of yards forward and placed the ball next to it. The linesman must have told Mason because he came back and furiously replaced it to boos from the Arsenal supporters. It'd have been a real talking point if anything had come of the free kick. Same old Arsenal... Vin
Why I love Long and why I made my comments about him the other week (being a favourite bit not really good enough) all in one movement.
Ah, I wondered about that. I was just coming back in with a coffee and saw Mason replacing the ball to boos from the crowd.
I thought Mason had a good first half by ignoring a lot of the diving (Arsenal + Tadic & Mane) and kept his card in his pocket. Not sure if Wenger got in his ear at half time but he came out after the break and gave us very little and gave Arsenal nearly every dive. Not sure why Wenger had a problem with him at full time as there appeared no contentious decisions or maybe it just had to be the referees fault that his team couldn't get the ball passed the Big Man
You could summarise the interview so - Interviewer "you're brilliant, marvelous, handsome and can walk on water". Forster "I'm a goalkeeper trying to do my best like all the lads". I was a Forster sceptic at first, you don't see him thowing himself around a lot, but he has the knack/skill just getting bits of himself in the way. Works fo me. Thought Romeu was splendid but he really needs to improve his distribution a tad. A few times his splendid work was almost ruined by passing straight to Arse'. Juanmi reminds me of a clockwork toy I had as a boy. You wind it up and it scurrys off under the sofa at great speed, someone finds it there two weeks later.
Sometimes it is more credible to just say "Hey, I was a bit miffed and maybe went over the top with my reaction..." SpacedSaint's post says it all. "by the sounds of it..." so you didn't watch it. It was a great performance. First half we had more shots on target and in my view slightly edged a very even half. The home team and title contenders had a spell in the second half when they created a few chances that we did will to defend and/or save. Even then, we could or should have nicked it. No-one minds people being negative if it is reasonable, but your continual expletive outbursts are very immature and/or suggest you should seek some help controlling that anger.
I didn't see it that way. My impression of the match is that we were under the cosh a lot of the time and our goalkeeper kept us in the game with a string of world class saves. Given the sheer number of times Arsenal tested Forster, I couldn't possibly say we were good defensively. Of the clear cut Arsenal chances, two fell for Ozil in the first half, two for Walcott in the second half, one for Sanchez near the end of the match, and add to that the shot by Giroud and couple of strong headers by Sanchez, Giroud and Koscienly. What we had? That chance that fortunately fell to Mane and he fluffed it, and a couple of scrapes in the Arsenal box which might have lead to something, but didn't. How many saves by Cech can you think of? Me, none. I've seen this written elsewhere, and I agree with it - had Stekelenburg been on goal for this one, we would've lost two or three nil. So I can't really praise our performance. On the other hand, there were some positives, we showed strong fighting spirit, some player played very well (Romeu), and Forster was superb. It's a great point and a clean sheet to continue our superb run.
Tom, It would appear that you've been insulted enough by this to report me to the mods. You appear to have ignored my post above where I apologised if I had insulted you. As I said there, it was meant as a light-hearted bit of banter (there's a reasonably well-used phrase, "Oh do **** off, Timmy" - say it in a posh, weary voice - that I was parodying). We've met at the pub and I would have said the same thing to your face; I doubt you would have taken it as an insult. It's not my intention to upset anyone so I'm genuinely, unreservedly sorry. However, I must temper the apology with some advice. I really do agree with FLT, you need to do something about your anger. It comes across in many of your posts. We have indeed met, and I know that you're not so angry face-to-face, so I don't know what changes once you have a keyboard in front of you. I try not to post anything on here that I wouldn't say in person; it might be an idea to do the same. Would you really have said "That line up is ****ing ****" if you'd been having a chat in the pub, or would it have been a little more even-tempered? Life's not black and white; you need to lighten up a little and enjoy the grey goo in between. It's where the fun and debate are. Other than that, I'm sorry again that I upset you. Vin
Funny how opinions can vary so much on referees. The Arse people think he was to blame for the result; ignoring all our fouls and not booking our players. I only listened on Radio Solent but they were despairing at times about the ref missing fouls on us. So, where's the truth? Probably FLT's statement sums it up.
Sometimes you get a different feel at the game than watching on the television. Defensively we were very strong even though Arsenal created a lot of good chances. They are a very good team. You must also consider how many times we were in good positions to create and got the pass or touch wrong. It is possible to play well and still have those attacking errors. Even though the stats don't show it, we could have scored a couple if we had made the right choices. I like the way Mane's chance fell fortunately to him ...but Walcott's two chances that came from a deflected tackle didn't get called fortunate????? Those chances came from a great tackle. A great tackle is great defending, no? My point to Tom was this: He moaned and groaned about the selection of the team before a ball was kicked, but from where I was stood watching the game, it was a great tactical display by Saints and Koeman. Arsenal will outplay most teams they play (possibly not the one they have in Europe soon ) and we were prepared for that. Time and time again they were marshaled well. The first half, I felt we were better than them. They had two chances and that was it. We really should have had more than the three on target we did; final ball decisions being wrong. We were comfortable. Second half Arsenal turned up the gas, but we still stood strong. Arsenal like to walk it into the net - did they have many of those chances - only a couple? Did they have a lot of chances that were crosses whipped into the box - yes. Why was that? It was because we had defended well and forced them to do something a little different. In my opinion, to expect a team of our standing to go to Arsenal and dominate in terms of possession, stats, chances, or whatever you like to judge a game by, is not going to happen. I was happy to judge the team on the work rate and defensive will to keep them out. We did that excellently. Fraser - brilliant Cedric - excellent Fonte - Excellent Virgil - excellent (what a tackle) Bertrand - very, very good (notice that Ozil went drifting off to create possibly more than normal) Romeu - best game in a Saints shirt (yet he still had some poor passes, but that doesn't detract from a great performance in this instance) Vic - very, solid JWP - incredible work rate; superb defensively in midfield Tadic - got a lot of stick where I was stood for losing it a couple of times, but he still tracked back and helped out. Possibly our weakest on the night, but still did his bit. Mane - just didn't happen for him in an attacking sense, but boy he made up for it with fantastic work rate. Long - battled and chased again, like Mane it didn't happen for him offensively Yes, I take onboard your comment about Arsenal's chances, but we still played vey well and the game plan was probably 90-95% what Koeman asked for. The 5-10% bit was the missing goal. In my opinion only, of course What Tom needs to understand is that I he spouts off a load of expletives before a ball is kicked about the team or manager before a ball is kicked, he is going to get some come back. If then when the result goes well, he still can't come on and be pleased for the team, then he should know he is going to get some crap thrown his way. He could also look up the word humility.
Anyone got any insight as to why we changed a system that allowed 2 shots in 3 matches to one that allowed 2 shots every 3 minutes? For the brief time Targett was playing, he seemed to make a bit of a difference according to the radio commentary.
Couldn't really disagree with any of greensaints comments, I was not a great fan of Fraser when he first arrived. great shot stopper but always worried me on crosses and generally commanding his 6 yard box. But has certainly played well last night, didn't see to many world class saves, but several excellent saves and made himself very large and difficult to get past. Thought Romeu was excellent and unluckly not to have had a lenghty run in the side, always saw him as a replacement for big Vic, but played very well alongside him last night. Not a great lover of Juanmi, but he's young and can hopefully improve?
