Regarding the penalty appeal today, remember Chelsea had an absolute stonewall claim turned down in the same fixture last season. These things have a habit of evening themselves out.
Matt slipped, not a stone waller in my eyes, seen them given though. But if that's evening things out, well what do we owe B'mouth on Tues? Casting ones mind back to L1 with those refs it could be anything!
Point me to where I blamed Pelle for both goals please? Pelle's inability to use a football at his feet led directly to the first goal - that is what I have said. I think you are not wanting to blame Pelle for that one (which is fine) if you are saying it was a brainfartmiscommunication thing. He kept giving it away and on one of those occasions, it led directly to the goal. He had nothing to do with the second goal.please note I also said Fraser had a mare for it. I agree that Chelsea were already in the ascendency but I also still stand by my view that those last 20 minutes went even worse because we stopped offering what we'd had previously upfront. If you read back I also agreed that Long and Austin weren't that great (the term I used was "not a lot of quality") but they still made life difficult for the defenders either by chasing or the threat of the ball behind. I don't really like using commentators, as they can be nuts, however watching it back on Game of the Day, they also said that Saints had stopped having options for the man on the ball and this was leading to more and more pressure from Chelsea. I'm not fixating, I am saying what I saw happen at the game. Clear as anything to me. And I think a lot of people there too. The easier it became for their defenders, the quicker they got it back and the deeper we got pushed back. So where you see us beginning to hold out for that draw and the first goal as the game changer, I see that's shape of the game as the changer. We suddenly had no outlet at all. You mention their defenders came out as they pleased because of how Willian was playing.... Don't see how that makes a difference to my point. Our attackers needed to be making it harder for their defenders to get the ball to Willian. So to summarise for you: I don't think "the answer" is Pelle. I think having a striker who is not mobile or good at holding up possession at a time when we needed it, was not what was needed at that stage. We needed a mobile player to keep the pressure on their defenders. I do give a chunk of the blame to Pelle for the first goal and another chunk to Fraser (although as someone said earlier it looked like he thought Hazard was going to touch it). I do not blame Pelle for the defeat. Hope that is clear now. It's fine we disagree and just have different understandings of how the game played out. Try not to change what people have said.
Just seen MOTD. Why oh why didn't the referee and assistant communicate with each other on the equaliser. I thought they had a radio mic so they could talk to each other, not so they could look like Madonna.
Just read the post-match reactions on here and I there are some interesting points of debate going on. Good to see its all reasonably positive though. IMO The negatives are all because losing to an in-form Chelsea wasn't a given and we were honestly only 1% short of winning or drawing. We have a lot to be proud of. I'm interested to see if we were in the wrong on the Costa incidents as my hate for him may be clouding my view as it may have clouded the teams actions. So annoyed that our misdemeanours were punished by a yellow card every time and that hampers your ability to tackle and win the ball back. Goals always spark the debate between those that see the error leading to the goal as key and those that think the keeper should have saved it. Let's face it anyone on the pitch might just have done one thing different in that phase of play and they wouldn't have scored. 1st half was brilliant but far too tactical for MOTD. If we can neutralise Chelsea that well for 45 minutes maybe we aren't far off doing it for 90. Difficult to see what went wrong 2nd half from the Chapel but interesting that we have had a few games recently where we dominate for 45 and lose control after HT. (Bomo, Leicester, Arsenal away, maybe more?) However Chelsea are bloody good and their one-touch passing was seemingly flawless at times. Sadio should hang out with Willian in the summer and see if he can pick up any tips. (Not a criticism just homage to a genius) Romeu MOTM for me, Clasie, Soares and Long very good. Pelle? Come on you've got to hold the ball when we're under pressure. Next 2 are far more winnable, looking forward to Bournemouth now. COYR
I know have a strange vision of Madonna refereeing our next match with her tiny leotard and strange skinny arms. Maybe she could work out a dance routine with the assistants. #Like a Virgil ...
And the kick out at Cedric? It was right in front of me and Kenedy should have been booked for it. Oh, but I forget, he's a Chelsea player, so Atkinson couldn't book him .....
Well, sorry Fats, I AM going to at least partially blame Pelle for the 2nd. He was right in front of Ivanovich (who stooped for his header) and he didn't get off the ground at all. Now, you'd hope that your biggest striker (in terms of height) would go for a defensive header when he comes back for a corner, rather than just stay rooted to the spot and watching the ball. If he'd gone for it, there's a very good chance he'd have got a clearing header on it. I am a big fan of a fit, firing, Graziano, but I'm tired of his flicks, lack of hold-up play and general attitude. If it's an injury, then sort of out, coaches, but otherwise ....... Apart from that though, my opinion is we lost to a team who controlled the ball well, made us move around too much in the 2nd half and played the ref immaculately. Something I guess we should get used to with that bunch of cheating bastards. Atkinson was predictably awful, from the moment he booked Davis, gave Willan a let off, lectured Ivanovich 3 or 4 times, fell (once again) for play acting and finally ignored his assistant referee for a blatan kick (and red card) which then allowed them to equalise, then denied us a penalty. I'm getting used to seeing polo refereeing at St Mary's every other week - hope we get a proper ref next week, but I hold no hopes. We did well first half, Davis' card blunted him and he had to be careful, then the bookings for Clasie and Romeu in the 2nd allowed Chelsea to push more. Costa is a nasty piece of work who gets away with it time and time again. Annoyed I am. But onwards and upwards - good results in next 2 games will see us happy ......
I know what you are saying and, of course, it makes absolute sense BUT I can't help thinking that it was the Pelle substitution that actually changed the game. I think he gave the ball away with his first 6 touches. You can't do that against Chelsea. There was no pressure on the Chelsea defence after Long came off and they could bring the ball forward without any fear of a fast counter attack. I know you can't blame Pelle for the individual mistakes of others but I am convinced we would have won the game if Long had stayed on. Up until that time, Chelsea had a lot of possession but we were managing it and forcing them into slow passing moves which invariably resulted in them going backwards or in a speculative shot.
Watching the highlights, I'm not even going to try and defend Atkinson for his performance yesterday. Atkinson is probably one of the more inconsistent referees. He does have good games, but does have shockers like yesterday too often. You can call Clattenburg arrogant, limelight hogger etc but he very very rarely cocks up as badly as Atkinson did yesterday. Not sure how Atkinson is going to the Euros ahead of Oliver either.
Not re-read the whole thread but I was more disappointed with Mané than Pelle, He didn't look interested at all and made no effort to chase down Chelsea possession. At least Pelle tried to put himself about. Both, I feel, are done at SFC.
Good point, Tom. I have criticized Clattenburg, yes, but he would have been better than Atkinson yesterday. As you say, how Atkinson can be going to the Euros is quite incredible. Makes me despair about our overall refereeing standards!
