I cannot believe some of the comments about Ramirez's performance today, "his freekicks were awful," he delivered possibly the best indirect freekick of the season. And to say he didn't have enough impact on the game when he scored our only goal is pretty thick. It was very disappointing to see him kick his freekicks out of play 3X when he had earlier on the game put it on a plate for Lambert. Surely that can't detract from Ramirez scoring a goal, delivering a brilliant free kick, nearly winning apenalty, laying a perfect ball off to Clyne, tracking back, blocking a cross and then picking out a pass to launch a counterattack and all the little things like keeping possession well and putting pressure on the defense. I thought this was Ramirez's best game for a long time. The mistakes from freekicks were glaring mistakes and a bit embarrassing to see him repeat the mistake again again however he created more problems for the west ham defence than anyone other than Rodriguez which is what you have to judge him on. I don't want to watch that match again but I can't recall Davis creating a decent chance apart from in the first few minutes when he played lallana in. I think I have an aversion to Davis because I can't remember him doing anything else significant (offensively) in the entire match. I thought he had a very good game though. I would have him keep his place and drop Lallana/Ramirez for Rodriguez next game. I don't think we can play lallana and Ramirez in the same team unless they are both really on form and running at the opposition. Our biggest problem was that West Ham defended us too well, particularly their work on lambert and defending cutbacks. It seemed to me like Cork was given more of an attacking role today which worked well, he was just about the best player on the ground for me.
Ramirez did lots of good stuff...the goal, passing and stalwart defending...a shame that a couple of free kicks stand out because, quite frankly, any player could have delivered them better. He was subbed soon after the last one...perhaps he was exhausted by the dreadful conditions...I know I was sitting in the stand wet and cold. Over all, well done, Saint Gaston.
It all depends on where you sat yesterday. I was in the Chapel, so all I had a good view of was Gaston's goal, which, let's face it, anyone could have scored, and the three free kicks that were dreadful. When you're quite low down in one stand, it is quite difficult to identify what each player is doing at the other end of the pitch so maybe I didn't see some of the good stuff Gaston did. So rather than say "you can't believe some of the comments about Gaston" maybe appreciate that people will see different things with a better view than others and therefore will form different opinions about the same player. I stand by what I said, from where I was in the Chapel Gaston had a poor game IMO.
It's a good point that he may have been fatigued, he hasn't had a proper pre-season or a proper season really, so maybe a lot of his improvement will come from an increased fitness level. Once he can string a few 90 minute games I can't imagine how much better this team will be. I can see us looking back on Ramirez's substandard form and being thankful that it kept him at the club for another season. A fully fit and confident Ramirez would attract attention from barca and real madrid I have no doubt.
Fair enough, it goes both ways though, if you can't quite make out what's happening it would be reasonable to be less harsh on Southampton's top goal scorer for the day. BTW, I saw what you wrote about Ramirez but my rant was more of a reaction against the **** comments I read on Saintsweb.
Quote:- "I had a good view of was Gaston's goal, which, let's face it, anyone could have scored". I must disagree with that statement, a lot players would have missed it, it was a classy finish in the circumstances. If he had missed we would have lost. From my view I saw a lot of good things from Ramirez, mostly defensive, but much of it off the ball, but I do wish that they had given more of the free kicks to Foxy, he has a sweet left foot delivery, but in Rambos defence, the conditions didn't help, in the Chapel you must have felt the wind gusting every now and then, it was almost impossible to gauge the speed of the ball? You could see what he was trying to do, but it needs more work on the training pitch to get the other players on the same wavelength, and having just watched MoD this morning, it was strange to see Rickie Lambert defending well!
Oh right. I'm just making sure I don't come across as a Ramirez hater. I think he's a quality player and hasn't had as many bad performances as some have suggested. I just think someone of Gaston's quality shouldn't be overhitting free kicks from good areas 3 times in a row. I think he wave to get used to the fact that Gaston will be a bit inconsistent. He will always produce moments of brilliance throughout a season but also will screw up basic stuff at times as well! I did notice Cork throughout the game though - I thought he had a very good game.
Just seen Jos on Player. He wasn't exactly plumptious before, but he looks skeletal now. It must be true when the Spanish player said that 'Mauricio works you like a dog and sometimes you want to kill him.' Jos said that it wasn't a foul that lead to the goal, but MP was philosophical and said that these things happen in every game. I have to say that although he is passionate on the pitchside, I prefer the cooler approach afterwards when there is nothing to gain by moaning a la Wenger and Fergie.
My overall impression was that we dominated the game but didn't really create enough chances. Everything was too slow in the final third until Rodriguez came on. Something we have been guilty of in the past. Sometimes a quick, whipped ball into the box will do the trick.
Going on the highlights we didn't have that many clear opportunities. We will have a lot more against Swansea but so will they!
I'l be honest, I was very drunk and I don't remember an awful lot. Also I was sitting in row C so you can't atually see a lot of what's going on. I think we had most of the possession but still didn't creat enough chances? I'll have to watch the highlights.
Ha ha, reminds me of the Tottenham game, I had to go home and watch match choice on Sky to find out what had happened!
It was a class finish and he gave the keeper the eyes. Poor comment Tom, becasue "let's face it"... Lambert missed a sitter against Liverpool that "anyone could have scored". I'm not saying Gaston was great, I thought he was OK that's all, but a daft comment about the goal, mate. It was a good goal.
Highlights missed loads out Lamballana and I felt they made it look like West Ham had more. Typical BBC
For once (!) I agree with you on this. Ramirez played very well in attack and defence. Obviously, he had some poor free kicks and he still loses possession a bit too much for my liking. But, that was a classy goal. No panic, total confidence, showed the goalkeeper one way and then calmly chipped in the other. Actually a very well taken goal that was made to look easy (remind you of anyone?).
I can kind of agree with most of your post but the last statement is laughable. That is wat is infuriating many Saints fans where people are coming out with the pre-hype, media build up of the player. Let's hope he does get to that stage because for me barring the goal and 2 first half crosses he didn't have a great game IMO. I agree that at the mo we can't play Lallana and Ramirez together. But does one playing make the other play worse? Which do we pick? The one who will 'be off to Barca' when he's playing well or the one who will pledge his allegiance to Saints for the next 10 years? Not a tough choice IMO I'll forgive him the conditions yesterday but there were umpteen attempted lofted passes that were woefully short in both halves. 3 free kicks in several minutes and the guy really struggles with the pace of the Prem.....at the moment. If we want to do well next season he has to hit the ground running from the start. there is no time for him to continue to settle and if he is going to be off to a bigger team sooner or later then the other option we have is MR Saints and should be respected more for that.
He had plenty of pace when he belted down the left side (in the absence of Shaw) on 2 important occasions in the second half, tackled and came away with the ball. He was covering well for Fox who isn't such a forward thinking defender as Luke.
I'm not overly criticising him for yesterday really Fran. The opposition and conditions weren't a very good mix for anyone with talent to shine. It's more the contradiction of he's a great player that will move on to better things with someone else when we have another great player who will move on to better things with us. There are many like myself who had never really seen him before, were very excited from what we were told beforehand and are waiting to see it. Some more patient than others but many seem to just roll out cliches from the hype and media assessments that were bandied around beforehand. The good thing is we are safe, he has 8 more matches to get experienced. He has a full pre-season to get fitter and more acclimitised and used to England and let's hope he does so because it will benefit our team if he does. Not really talking about pace in terms of sprinting though, more that in the Prem the ball moves from end to end much much quicker than in any other league in the world and most games are at a frenetic pace whether it be footballing or hoofballing where other leagues there are periods of calm during the game. Anyways, just given up smoking again so staying off this forum for a while. lol
I have to agree that I had hoped for him to shine more by now (although he did miss out with injury), but some of it may be to do with the fact that we already had players who have performed well this season. He would have shone in a poor team, but now he has to compete. He's on a contract, so let's wait and see next season. Like Carroll, he is suffering from a large price tag (for us).
For mine Ramirez is already substantially better than lallana, based purely on watching the two play not on statistics or what ever else. If Ramirez leaves for barca or madrid we should be delighted that we developed a player capable of playing for one of the best teams in the world. I feel that unless he suffers a serious injury we will either more than recoup our fee or have an extremely good player, win-win.
