Part of the reason I was fairly confident earlier in the year is the fact that, if not for one or two should-never-happen-at-this-level errors, our point total would be vastly different. But we're now eleven games in, and the errors just keep coming...for 75 minutes of every game (or today, 89 minutes) we play well enough to get results, but if we cannot cease squandering points in a hurry, we're not staying up. I'm growing less certain that we can.
Yeah me too. To be honest I've already come to terms with the fact that, although I think it's still possible and obviously hope we can stay up, we might not. It wouldn't be the end of the world, we'd have parachute payments and would be in a very strong position to get promoted again. We could still make it back to the premier league in time for the five year plan!
What was wrong with playing the ball to Gazzaniga right there? Gazzaniga had options and time to make a decision, he just made an extremely bad choice. If you watch the replay, Yoshida plays the ball and wasn't looking for a pass back. Gazzaniga played a soft, slow ball on the inside of Yoshida somewhat opposite to the direction he was running. Yoshida really didn't have much of a chance. That was entirely Gazza's fault.
The best news from today: QPR lose Reading draw Norwich draw Sunderland lose Wigan lose Villa will probably lose later. We've actually gained a little ground.
Completely agree Joe - hasnt been such a bad day. I thought we were fairly decent and had we had a little more luck would have one. Thing is, it will take a little time for the confidence to come back - so one step at a time...
Yeah, for me it's mostly the frustration of how we're dropping. If we did the simple thing, the easy thing, we'd be on 10 or more points by now, with a run of games that could see us separating from the relegation zone. We're not getting played off the park, but rather making one or two comically stupid plays each game, and paying for it. The upshot is as it has been...avoid panicking for no apparent reason, and we can run off a good many points in a hurry. But it has to happen really soon, because if we cannot string together enough results to go into January and February (when our schedule is brutal) in decent position, even a couple significant upgrades at the back aren't going to be sufficient.
I'm more deflated than I was after the West Brom and Spurs defeats, mostly because I had higher expectations for today and because we genuinely did deserve a win today. In the grand scheme of things though, that was a point gained in the relegation battle.
It was definitely largely Gazza's fault, but Yoshida did have the opportunity to just swing a leg at it and hoof it out on the volley, but instead wasn't aware enough of his surroundings and tried to control it. Definitely mostly Gazza's fault though as there is no doubt that he should have just kicked it long, but I feel Maya did have a chance, but it's just another case of the problems piling up on our low-confidence players and mistakes occurring from that. Frustrating.
There are positives to today, but the negatives far away them, we couldnt really afford to lose that game, and should have been out of sight in all honesty. Huge opportuinty wasted via individual errors yet again.
Oh man, today went exactly as I had hoped apart from one bit. Wish the QPR game was tomorrow so we could put that right.
A defender should know that if he receives a dodgy ball while facing his own goal, he should get rid of it. Even if he didn't get a shout, he should assume he's under pressure in that situation. He's clearly lacking a lot of confidence and not thinking straight, because I guarantee every defender knows this. I suspect Alan Hansen will say the same thing later tonight.
Yeah, I agree with that to a certain extent. I'm not calling for Ramirez to be dropped or anything. He looked a little sluggish today which is probably due to lack of matches. Also, he and Lambert don't seem to be quite on the same page but that can be fixed with more playing time together. And he still had an okay game, just not an incredible one and Saints need him to be incredible. I was more saying that Ramirez was the player on the pitch who had the ability to raise Saints' game up another level and he was unable to do it. They're going to need him to do better. It was on that level "disappointing," though as you point out there were certainly valid reasons for it. Unfortunately, Saints don't have any margin for error so Ramirez will get back to his best quickly and maintain that level. Those are some high expectations, but they are paying him lots of money and frankly, its our only chance.
One significant mistake = goal. How often when Dyer played for us when he went 1 on 1, it was almost guaranteed to end in nothing. Then today, perfect low shot, off the inside of the post. No luck whatsoever. But we've got to fanny around less on the edge of the area. That and poor corners cost us the win today. Cork & Shaw were very good.
It was such a lousy pass, though. For one thing, Yoshida didn't look to me like he was facing his own goal. I thought he passed it back to Gazzaniga and then trotted up and towards the sidelines to has proper position thinking Gazzaniga would clear his lines. Instead Gazza played it back quickly, somewhat against Yoshida's momentum. It was too soft and way too slow and Dyer read it all the way and was speeding towards it. Yoshida didn't have time to clear. Maybe he should have tried anyway as that might have at least not quite have gifted it to Dyer as much. But he was thinking maybe he could tip it past him, except he made a bad first touch. None of Yoshida's options were good ones at that point and he had to make a split second decision.
