My honest opinion of the game is that City should have scored 6 yet Saints managed to score twice much to everyone's disbelief. I think you did well to cling on and momentarily defy the odds but overall you were outclasses, outplayed, and deserved to lose. Hopefully this will engender some false confidence in your team and Wigan will batter you.
Ratings Thread.
- Thread starter ThatThereSaintsFan
- Start date
How did watching Lee Barnards goal on saturday feel? We even score against you when we aren't in the same league. If you actually watched football you would see that the action area stats had the game at being 22% in our area and city's, so the game was more even that the stats show. Anyway, shouldn't rise to a WUM really.
I thought we were great, soaked up pressure well and countered when we could. I think there is a lot more to come from Lallana, who looked slightly off the pace still instead of being at his brilliant best. I expect once he gets more game time in the centre and gets used to his new role, we will see the best from him.
But to be honest I would give the whole team a 7, fox a 6 and Lambert an 8. Stand outs were Clyne and Rodriguez, although Puncheon and Guly ran their socks off and were great to be honest. The most impressive thing is how well we played in a new system, with a lot of new players, and old players playing in new roles (Lallana and Puncheon.) Obviously can't review the game without mentioning Ward-Prowse, who again has the makings of a great player with more game time.
All in all, excellent performance and a ridiculously entertaining game.
Well you lot will be pleased to see my ratings for the game
I thought it was a very impressive performance, and no-one really stood out as having played badly so here goes:
Kelvin Davis - 6, A good penalty stop but few dodgy moments
Nathaniel Clyne - 8 MOTM, Looks a real prospect both defensively and attacking. Very excited by him.
Jose Fonte - 8, A very committed and solid display. Surprised but pleased he had such a good game.
Jos Hooiveld - 6, Stupid challenge for the penalty but otherwise looked ok.
Danny Fox - 7, I have doubts (their goal) but if he keeps the rest of it up he will be fine in the top league.
James Ward-Prowse - 8, Very mature and composed display from the youngster. A real talent.
Morgan Schneiderlin - 6, Couldn't get into the game too much but looked ok.
Adam Lallana - 6, Prefer him out wide but can understand why he has been moved inside.
Jason Puncheon - 6, A lot of effort but not a lot of end product today.
Guly do Prado - 7, Worked hard and some glimpses of his undoubted talent and workrate.
Jay Rodriguez - 7, Looked good down the left with some real glimpses of talent.
Rickie Lambert - 7, Superbly taken goal and Saints looked a better side with him in it.
Steven Davis - 7, A good goal and his passing was good. Looks to be a good player.
Billy Sharp - Didn't have enough time to make his mark on the game.
Post your ratings below and I look forward to the usual slating
Edit: Changed Kelvin Davis rating after seeing highlights
Must be weird 1898 seeing a list of players who actually get paid
U are a tit!!! Your knowledge of football is zero stop being a useless wum and do something with your life....a girlfriend maybe?
Yup, Fox was our worst player today. Didn't really offer much except to give it away.
Can't really complain too much when you're playing against City though.
Davis-6-Looked a bit shaky and nervous, but made a good penalty save.
Clyne-8-Excellent performance from the young right back, looked assured in possession and defended well.
Fonte-7-Played well, made some mistakes , but looked pretty good overall.
Hooiveld-6-Gave away a stupid pen,but other wise from that we was ok.
Fox-7-Looked very good when he got forward,passed the ball around and didn't hoof the ball up the field as often as he does,yes he made a mistake in the 3rd goal,but he played well.
JW-P-7-He played ever so well for someone of his age and he should be very proud with his performance.
Schneiderlin-6-Was a peripheral today.
Lallana-6.5-Made an assist, but wasn't quite on his A game today.
Rodriguez-6-Worked hard,but found it hard to assert himself.
Puncheon-6-Made some good runs forward and stretch the man city defense out during times,but failed to capitalise on his attacks.
Guly-6.5-Worked hard and made a great assist for Lambert's goal.
Subs:
Lambert-7-Took the goal really well and he looked really confident and fresh when he came on.
Davis-7-Same as Lambert.
Sharp-N/A.
Clyne-8-Excellent performance from the young right back, looked assured in possession and defended well.
Fonte-7-Played well, made some mistakes , but looked pretty good overall.
Hooiveld-6-Gave away a stupid pen,but other wise from that we was ok.
Fox-7-Looked very good when he got forward,passed the ball around and didn't hoof the ball up the field as often as he does,yes he made a mistake in the 3rd goal,but he played well.
JW-P-7-He played ever so well for someone of his age and he should be very proud with his performance.
Schneiderlin-6-Was a peripheral today.
Lallana-6.5-Made an assist, but wasn't quite on his A game today.
Rodriguez-6-Worked hard,but found it hard to assert himself.
Puncheon-6-Made some good runs forward and stretch the man city defense out during times,but failed to capitalise on his attacks.
Guly-6.5-Worked hard and made a great assist for Lambert's goal.
Subs:
Lambert-7-Took the goal really well and he looked really confident and fresh when he came on.
Davis-7-Same as Lambert.
Sharp-N/A.
Stoke hoof up the ball at every chance they get, we passed it around mainly. Both our goals come from the floor. Ramirez will be fine, he'll get plenty of service and will get the ball to Lambert too.
That was only over a 10 minute spell, the actual percentages are 64%-36%. The last ten minutes would have had us dominating possession too.
Clyne, Fonte, S Davis, Schneiderlin, Ward-Prowse and Lallana all had a great game.
A goalie is never expected to save a penalty, for him to do so was good-after all it would have been reasonable if he dived in the opposite corner.
Our best player didn't even start, Aguero being injured made a load of difference didn't it? I mean Dzeko didn't score or anything did he?
Mancini took off Tevez and brought on Koloarov because he didn't want to take any risks, it shows the danger we caused his Premier League winning side, with a 17 year old league debutant too.
I think anyone who goes on the Pompey board knows 1898 is a little bit simple when it comes to football,
Poor Boy
Poor Boy
Do people have to keep on qouting 1898? He's on my ignore list for a reason! 
Any way, back to the topic. Quite a difficult one this one, because I thought the players who stood out in the first half for us (Clyne, Fonte, Guly) weren't the players who stood out in the second half (Lambert, Lallana, Davis). But I will say
Davis - 7
Clyne - 8
Fonte - 8
Hooiveld - 7
Fox - 7
JWP - 7
Morgan - 8
Lallana - 8
Puncheon - 6
Guly - 7
Rodriguez - 6
Any way, back to the topic. Quite a difficult one this one, because I thought the players who stood out in the first half for us (Clyne, Fonte, Guly) weren't the players who stood out in the second half (Lambert, Lallana, Davis). But I will say
Davis - 7
Clyne - 8
Fonte - 8
Hooiveld - 7
Fox - 7
JWP - 7
Morgan - 8
Lallana - 8
Puncheon - 6
Guly - 7
Rodriguez - 6
its all about ifs buts and maybes, if Balotelli could use his left leg, if the shot had not hit the crossbar, if we had been given a penalty, if thier first had been called offside, if Spiders shot had not got deflected, if your father had not shagged his sister you would not be here and we would not be replying to your insanity
Davis 7
Fox 6 - very poor on 3rd goal
Fonte 8 - first goal not really his fault, he was the wrong side and wasn't catching tevez therefore offside trap was his best bet and he played it well..clyne was napping
Hoovield 7
Clyne 6 - promising but partly responsible for 2 goals
Ward-prowse 8- impressed by him.
Lallana 8
Morgan 7.5
Puncheon 7.5
Rodriguez 7.5
Guly 7.5
Lambert 9
Davis 8
Thought Webb was dreadful. Blatant penalty for Lescott challenge, linesman could have given Tevez offside and they got almost every decision. Deserved a point from this and we can feel hard done by
Fox 6 - very poor on 3rd goal
Fonte 8 - first goal not really his fault, he was the wrong side and wasn't catching tevez therefore offside trap was his best bet and he played it well..clyne was napping
Hoovield 7
Clyne 6 - promising but partly responsible for 2 goals
Ward-prowse 8- impressed by him.
Lallana 8
Morgan 7.5
Puncheon 7.5
Rodriguez 7.5
Guly 7.5
Lambert 9
Davis 8
Thought Webb was dreadful. Blatant penalty for Lescott challenge, linesman could have given Tevez offside and they got almost every decision. Deserved a point from this and we can feel hard done by
I disagree with most of those ratings for both teams, where are they from?
EDIT: Ah the Daily Mail. Enough said.
EDIT: Ah the Daily Mail. Enough said.
So we're done with feeling sorry for flat fishes yeah? Thank fook for that, it was becoming very tedious.
1898.....when pfc was solvent, great year.
1898.....when pfc was solvent, great year.
I agree with most of what has been said, Puncheon I think was a victim of City doing their homework and nullifying his play, they didn't have a clue about JWP, he made good use of that fact. Spider I would deduct 1 mark for a silly foul and a gallish petulant response which could have cost us dear. Like some on here, would prefer Lala to be creative from the left side, but he did well enough. Most of my other thoughts have been well covered, first impressions, good, but can get a whole lot better with time and experience.