A lot of strikers are taught to hit it first time or as early as possible, so the keeper doesn't have time to set himself. It is about doing it at the right time though.
Was thinking to myself how poor Jay's final touch is just seconds before the 3rd goal.......Whoops take it all back. Think its still early days for him and he is learning his trade, but I do think he will improve year on year. There are very few natural goalscorers [i.e. Robbie Fowler, Kevin Phillips] and Jay has more about his game than just scoring goals?
the player is not eligible for England because FIFA Statutes stipulate that the player needs to have held a British passport at the time when he represented France at youth level
I think one of Jay's perceived problems is that he takes almost no backlift and very little follow through on shots, so he never looks like he's hitting it hard. It's purely a perception problem but it does mean that even when he hammers it people see a placed, softer shot. Compare it to Lambert, who ends up with his boot at chest height when he lamps it. VIn
The great thing about that 3rd goal for me was that Jay actually looked up to see where the goal/goalkeeper were. I've often accused him of playing with his head down so excellent for me. Also, Lambert's goal, Jay was completely aware of where he was.
I think Hodgson, as a former Fulham manager, was perhaps saddened by how poor his old team were. Once he gets over that though I'm sure he'll be delighted to see the players he's taken a chance on doing so well.
So looks like MP changed his formation for the 2nd half to a 4312 formationwith Davis playing a bit deeper on the right and RL playing in the hole with JRod and Adam up front. Maybe just responding to Fulham who were playing a very narrow game, but it does show me a certain flexability from MP who has always said before that we will play our style and not respond to the other team. This formation really plays in RL strengths and gives him that extra time on the ball
I think there is always room for little changes here and there within the main system. I think what Poch says about not changing is that the style Saints play is one where we impose ourselves upon the opposition and attempt to dominate them, and that isn't going to change. Going by the possession stats alone, it's rare that it doesn't work, aside from whether Saints win, draw or lose. Reflecting on the games this season, I think there are only one or two where Saints haven't had rather more than 50% of the ball. Perhaps someone can remember them..?
not intended as a dig at MP, all power to him if he thought changing our usual system would win the game, and it did
I've just had a look. We have an average of 58% possession this season - we had less possession than the opposition in Liverpool away (which we won), Swansea at home (which we won), and Chelsea away (which was 51/49, so pretty close).
I always doubted the point of possession % stats, the ball spends a lot of time out of play for a start so it depends how you work it out. In the age of a million different stats we can talk about number of passes in the attacking half etc etc and get a better idea of what is going on.
Swansea Home we had 42% possession, Chelsea Away we had 49% possession, these are the only two times we've had less than 50% possession in any PL game this season.
Yeah it's not actually what you'd think, they normally work it out by comparing the number of completed passes, which is usually pretty accurate. If team A has 55 passes and team B has 45 then they say the possession is 55% to 45%. More info on the opta site here: http://www.optasportspro.com/en/about/optapro-blog/posts/2012/possession(s).aspx
No me and Mrs Locum were spending a weekend away in brighton. If you go, and like seafood, go to "riddles and fins" for dinner. It really is superb.
My niece lives in Brighton. I occasionally ride the bike that way and pop in to say hi, and we maybe go for a meal or drink, so I'll ask her. She's fairly well in touch with Brighton life. BTW, the goals were worth waiting for, weren't they..?
Can't believe Rickie didn't make Garth Crooks's team of the week..... How on earth did Andy Carol make it instead of a player who scored and set up 2!!??
