Think this sums up Gaston's performance today quite well? He's obviously a good player, that will hopefully come good for us in the future, but today he was poor and yet to justify his transfer fee? Thought we looked a much better unit when Adam came on?
Interesting. Before we went there I am pretty sure they had only conceded something stupid like only 3 goals at home.
Yep. They had the meanest of mean defences prior to Adkins' Saints going there and putting 3 past them.
Ok let's face it, Lambert and Rodriguez completely schooled Reading's defence, but I also thought Cork was really good. Three wins in a row in the Prem, the last time was 21 December 2003, beating Pompey 3-0 (the Dodd corner one). Guly's definitely just saving his Premier League goal for the last day of the season. Anyone notice how things go your way when you are playing well? Three decisions from the officials, all correctly in our favour (haven't seen an image of the ball over the line yet).
Luke Shaw on Twitter: Great result , clean sheet + moving up the table , lads were quality today and the fans unreal as usual #saintsfc
According to the goal-line placed TV camera, the ball was three-quarters over the line. Not enough, of course. Who needs goal line technology..? I love the way Boruc threw it back into play, to a Saints player, without any pull back to obtain power. He must have strong fingers.
As for Rambo I am sure he will be good in time, he is only a youngster and hasn't got enough time on the pitch to really show what he can do, if he hadn't picked that injury early doors this season, he may well have been featuring in the goal charts, it was a career threatening injury, never forget that, it may have affected his confidence, who knows, but although his finishing was poor today, he was getting in to the positions to try a shot or two.
I thought today's match would be tight, however once we weathered the storm Reading really did not create much and I was amazed Pogrebnyak did not feature at all. Whilst our defensive display was not our best we were organised and our touch and movement were too good for Reading who often struggled to get out of their own half and could not keep possession. Not our best display but a great win. Davis, Cork and the front two were great and while Ramirez was not great I can understand why we started with him to retain possession, I am sure he will improve with time.
My thoughts on Gaston are that he doesn't suit our play style. He doesn't press enough. He's a poor finisher and decision maker. He gives the ball away cheaply. That being said he made a couple of great passes today. He played the pass which Rodriguez hit the cross bar from. He played a nice back heel to Davis which he could have shot from but tried to cut it back where Morrisson read it nicely. I think he'll improve but it's hard to say if he'll ever suit us. If he plays he needs to play CAM. I don't think you should play Davis and Ramirez at the same time.
Schneiderlin was better than Cork. Cork vs Schneiderlin TODAY Passing %: 77 vs 85 Tackles: 1 vs 5 Interceptions: 0 vs 4 Aerials: 4 vs 5
THIS ^ is it exactly. We can't afford to carry a player as inconsistent as he is. Especially not at the money he's cost us. Are we a serious team, with ambitions to finish in the business end of the table, or are we prepared to let mistakes go so we can further Gaston's carreer, so he can finally make his dream move to Arsenal or Chelsea?
