Fair enough as in it sounds like you self destructed from what lamba said as I'd be the last one to give credit to the shammers Blimey mate you're talking as if you're already down
I personally would be perfectly happy to give West Ham credit if they deserved it, but in reality they really don't. They played below-average and their goals were either outright gifts (A goal straight from a 40 yard free kick that the keeper could easily have strolled out and claimed, and a fairly inexplicable handball that gave them a penalty, both at horrible times, straight at the beginning of the half to put us 1-0 down, and then to put them 3-1 up when we were looking certain to come back) or at the hands of faults from our CB forced out of position to LB due to our injuries, although their fourth was also down to some sublime play from Maiga, but by that time the game was meaningless, and that was really the first time they legitimately threatened off of the back of their own good play. Unfortunately we played better than them for the majority of the game, but shot ourselves in the foot and allowed them a ludicrously flattering scoreline considering the actual happenings of the game. Because of that everyones a bit down right now, even the more optimistic amongst us, so forgive us being miserable buggers!
Thanks Mikey, no that's perfectly understandable given what you've said Just have to tell yourselves that you finished above the shammers on merit (which you did) so you have as much chance as staying up as them if not more
Well this is nice. Mikey you are being a little biased there I feel. The fact is your sideways possession game in the first half, although it looks impressive on the stats, you barely mustered a shot on goal. In the second half when we scored and you had no choice but to try and score, we scored pretty easily without really having to be anywhere near our best. That is probably one of our poorest performances of the season and we were still far too much for you. We had 3 times as many shots on target than you and it was only for 5 minutes after you scored that you got any momentum going until we put the game beyond doubt with the penalty. I think we deserve a little credit rather than "you only won because our defending was bad and saints were the better side". Sometimes teams win against the run of play, but not by 3 clear goals.
What you, and some of my slightly less level-headed Saints fan comrades don't understand is that we didn't 'barely muster' a shot on goal due to a lack of quality or ability. It was very much our strategy to control the first half, keep the ball away from you and away from our goal. We did that, we barely threatened, but we did so more than you and outplayed you in that first half. That's not to say you were sprinting all over the park desperate to get the ball off of us like a bunch of 12 years olds, whilst a bunch of older lads just played keep-ball and mugged you off, but we controlled the game at your place and that is not something to be underrestimated. Our gameplan worked perfectly up until you were gifted your entrance into the game by our keeper on his debut making an absolute howler. Was that you 'being too much for us'? No. We were rocked, a team already low on confidence, another clean sheet down the pan and another mountain to climb, and then a scrap in our half, an unlucky bounce beats our out-of position CB, you're through on goal and all of a sudden it's 2-0. Slightly more down to quality but hardly you outplaying us with sheer quality. 2 minutes, 2 goals, a lot of luck for you, very little for us and suddenly you're in control of the game. We came back into it almost immediately, and for more than 5 minutes certainly. We deservedly came back into the game, and at that moment, almost everyone watching that game thought we were going to come back and level the score. Then bang, stupid handball penalty, 3-1, game damn near out of reach barring the remarkable. Skill on your part? Not at all. 'Too much for us'? Nope. We tried in vain for a short period after that but the penalty killed us and the game was done. Then came your only real moment of attacking quality with a lovely goal From Maiga, but that was in the 87th minute once again against our out-of-position LB, and a team as a whole that had no fight left in them. So where from those four goals apart from the meaningless, but quality, fourth, do you extract that you were 'too much for us'. You talk as if as soon as we tried to attack that you calmly defended, picked up the ball, and then beautifully and clinically tore us to pieces, which is just not even anywhere near the case. You dismiss the fact that we had more possession, higher pass accuracy, and more aerials duel won, and then base the fact that you dominated us around the fact that you had triple our shots on target. You had 6 shots on target, four were your goals, one was a comfortable save, and the other was blocked. Apart from your goals which as is clear were purely gifted to you, you had 7 shots, 4 were blocked, two were wide misses and one was saved. Not exactly peppering our goal with near-misses. Your main attacking threats are down the wing and direct to Carroll, you hardly got down the wing at any stage apart from the two goals where Yoshida got beaten, and Carroll, the most expensive English striker in history, was an absolute non-factor, consistently beaten by Hooiveld, our third choice CB who has had a terrible season. I think you deserve a lot of credit so far this season, I've watched you several times and you've played some very good matches this season and deserve to sit in such a lofty position in the table. But as you say, that was one of your poorest performances all season and it was not a game that you anywhere near deserved to win 4-1 based on your quality or performance. That's not to say we were robbed, that's not to say we were the better side, but we could very very easily of won that game mostly due to outplaying you for large proportions of the game despite being put in horrible circumstances. I don't begrudge you of credit due to a dislike of your team, in fact I have a bit of a soft spot for them and always have, or due to being a sore-loser, I know that we can lose games and we will lose games, I can live with that. I give you little credit because you deserved little credit for that game and despite you saying it sarcastically, you did win only because our defending was bad, that should just be plain to see. In fact I have two friends, one of whom is a Newcastle fan and one a Hammer, both of them have absolutely slated us this season and expected us to get butchered against you, and both of them were certain Carroll was going to bag a hattrick, they went to the game and after it said that we were incredibly unlucky not to have gotten something from the game.
Wow. So we got lucky four times in one match! The first goal was a fantastic ball in that caused mayhem between your keeper and your defence. A player from either side could easily have knocked it in. The second, Yossi intercepted a pass and battled well. Played a lovely cross into Nolan. A lucky bounce maybe. But still plenty to do from there. Ironically, your goal was from the only ball over the top. Lambert done well and then a great finish. You had a good little spell but I don't remember once panicking. Then came the penalty. A strange kind of foul, come girly hair pull come hand ball. Noble rarely misses penalties. Game over. Then a beauty by Maiga. Football is about scoring at key moments and that's what we did. We weren't lucky with all our goals and your goal wasn't some kind of footballing masterpiece. We deserved our win. The 3 goal margin may have flattered us a touch but considering we were nowhere near our best I am ok with that.
Yes you did, is that so hard to believe? 4, well more 3 instances of luck in 90 minutes. There are many games in which you can have 10 moments of luck, or 10 moments of bad luck. You had 3, and a combination of you punishing us and us punishing ourselves gave you the game. 'Fantastic ball in' is not the case. Noble has a fantastic set piece ability but that was not one of his finest. It was a gently lofted, straight as an arrow ball into an area that 99/100 would have been comfortably dealt with. And the fact that you misremember our goal to the point where you don't even know that Lambert wasn't on the pitch when we scored it, says a lot for me. You definitely scored at key moments, that is what gave you the game, you scored at the beginning of a half to completely destroy and undermine a good half from us, and then you scored when we were coming back into the game to kill us off. But that was not through your skill or quality, it was through large helpings of luck and gifts from us. That's not something to be ashamed of from your point of view, it is still a win that you should be pleased with and proud of, but to claim the things you have about you there being a gulf in class on the pitch and in the management, and that you were 'too much for us' etc., are wide of the mark and just plain inaccurate.
I seem to recall Lambert came on just before your goal. In my head I had him as the one who crossed it. I assume that's not the case then? I was behind the goal in the bobby Moore lower so its very possible I have mistaken the identity of the crosser. So I got the minute a player was subbed wrong and this "tells you a lot"! Nobles ball was indeed a superb ball in. Perfectly flighted and dropping between defenders and keeper causing uncertainty. With all the players rushing in this made your keeper indecisive. I still can't see the "luck" in Nolans goal. You were ****ing about with the ball in a silly area and Yossi came and took it from you. Ran with it. Played a perfect cross for Nolan and that was that. You lost because we out bullied you, Took our chances and scored when it mattered. You have now questioned my football knowledge, told me I'm not level headed and called me a prat! You Sir, are one sore loser. Goodbye.
Wow, way to give West Ham barely any credit for scoring 4 goals, which is an impressive achievement in any game. I know you have developed a rivalry with sorts with them recently but even still.
