Less tolerant societies would have had Chris Smalling put in the stocks for the abuse he dished out to Pellè yesterday, and not one single free kick was forthcoming from Phil Dowd.
I love Saints. I love Graziano. Sorry, it's an absolutely mental consideration. He works hard, tries hard and has scored some good goals for us. His team play is very good, but he is a long way from the top in terms of first touch, passing and technical ability. Only an Englishman could consider him the best all round striker. *apologies to Graziano - I love you man, but come on*
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/sa..._why_I_m_better_looking_than_Ronaldo/?ref=mac A big softy apparently.
You could bet the minute Pelle retaliated, he would get sent off. As Fandango said, he has a good temperament. Perhaps a few divers who collapse if you breathe on them could take lessons from him.
Pelle is good, but he would probably struggle to reach the top 10 in the premier league. At present he is probably in with players like Carroll ,Benteke, Lukaku, Austin, Ings, Cisse, Welbeck, Kane, Remy, Bony, Berahino but below Costa, Aguero, Dzeko, Sturridge, Giroud, Falcao (when he gets fit), and Sanchez. At present would rate him above Van Persie and Drogba, who both look like they well past their best nowadays. The good thing is he cost a lot less than most of the players he is on a par with performance wise.
The important part of statement is ,, All round ,, yes finishing maybe could be better but how many goals has he scored in his last 3 seasons ? Goals per game ratio ? Think he tops most yards ran as attacker so far this season , how do you know I'm English ? Lol
According to Sky, before one corner, Dowd warned Smalling to keep his arms to himself, implying that he must have been aware what he was doing. In which case, given the high profile of this sort of thing this season, it makes it even more baffling why he didn't give any fouls against Smalling. Whilst I hate all this referee intimidation that most of the 'bigger' clubs seem to go in for I do sometimes wonder if we are too 'nice'. No-one from Saints seemed to have a single word to Dowd about the situation and Pelle just took it as though it was perfectly acceptable.
I loved the guy but he was not good on the floor (that goal apart). He was lucky that he had Paine on the wing. In fact here is demonstrated in a nutshell why successful players shouldn't just move on when the first big offer comes in. When you have in the same team, possibly the best header and certainly one of the best passers, the game has ever seen then they are made for joint success. I can only guess but I don't think Davies would have been so successful if he'd gone to Man Utd at that time. Take note, anyone thinking of leaving in the summer!
I can remember Ron Davies hitting a shot so hard that it hit the stanchion inside the goal and rebounded out and the goal wasn't given, only TV replays later showed what had actually happened.
He warned Smalling in the second half and I am pretty sure it was the fifth corner. He should have warned him the first time he saw it and not waited for Pelle to point it out to him. Corner was taken and Smalling waited for the ball to get half way before grabbing the chest section of Pelle's shirt and pulling it downward all on the referee's blindside but clearly visible to the behind goal camera in real time not a slow mo. Referee should still have seen it. Linesman definitely did see it (unless he was watching the crowd with his back to the play.) Nothing given. The one where Dowd was 5 yards from Pelle / Smalling and facing them (they were in his vision directly in a line between the corner taker and him) was the one where Smalling had Pelle's shirt up around his neck and that was a blatant home referee bias/blindness decision. Tom you cannot argue that decision was 'one of those that happens every match.' It was not a little tug or 'hands on' a player. It was ridiculously visible, right in front of the referee, in his eye line and would have been a yellow card (shirt pulling) anywhere else on the pitch let alone a foul. The FA and referees need to get together and sort out the 'Skrtl' style of wrapping players up. This is not rugby where wrapping your arms or grabbing hold of someone is how you tackle. At the very least it is obstruction.
Don't think you can say all round best then put two of his best attributes and say there you go. Aguero Costa Sanchez are all better. He's pretty damn good though!
And with the crossbar against Toon, thats 6 times he's hit the woodwork this season so far and only at the halfway stage. If those had gone in he'd be 2nd in the league for goals. If even half of them had cone in he'd be 4th. I think that points to his quality. Its there but he needs a little bit more luck or a little bit more precision. That header against Toon would have been a beaut.
I love Pelle. He's a Saints player. He works his socks off. He scores goals and is a real handful for opponents, but he is a long way from best all round striker. His passing and decision making needs some work. I am not criticising, just using those attributes as an example of what he needs to improve on. He's been an excellent signing.
I agree...good signing for us and works his socks off, but needs to actually score more to be called an all round striker. Got to stop hitting the woodwork.
Just checked and he has scored 63 goals in his last 88 games plus hit the woodwork 6 times this season , that is good in any standard of football
