I'm more disappointed that we lost on a weekend where Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs all won. That I'm even comparing our result to their's is quite remarkable, that only one of those teams is above us in the table is even more so. Ain't perspective great.
I'm probably going to get shot down here and dubbed a perfectionist or whatever, but Forster slightly at fault for the goal? Hit from a long way out and he only needs to move about 2 feet to his left and he's there. Manages to get a hand to it aswell, would think a good keeper would be keeping that out in all honesty.
Poor bloke had been redundant for 95% of the game, it could have affected his concentration level, personally I thought he did well to get anywhere near it.
Agree. I don't think it was down to Fraser - it was a well hit shot and not many keepers would have saved it. The annoying thing is that we let him get into a position to shoot after nearly paying the price a little earlier .......... Oh well. By the way, in case anyone asks, I won't be bringing my girlfriend to any more games. Yesterday was her first time at St Mary's and if we're going to get a result like that, I don't think she's welcome again
I was, frankly, amazed to see on MOTD that he'd even got a finger to it, so no, I don't blame him at all. It was a perfectly placed bullet of a strike. It's very rare indeed that shots like that are saved. Vin
Yes, why blame the defence for not closing down Shelvey when Fraser could only tip a rocket into the top corner.
You know, that goal reminds me of the late winner by Delph last season for Aston Villa at St Marys. We backed off, allowed the shot and wallop! Different corner, but just as dispiriting. I don't blame the keeper but I am sure that if Wanyama and Toby had been on the pitch (fit!) then that wouldn't have happened.
I still don't understand the whole "backing off" thing. No one backed off Shelvey. It wasn't like Shelvey kept advancing with the ball and people gave him space rather than close him down. The point at which he took the shot was sideways and possibly even slightly behind where he initially received it. And the space for the shot was created because Davis was a tad too aggressive. Not that he wasn't aggressive enough. Shelvey gets the ball in the gap between the defensive and midfield lines. Fonte properly drops back as he is tracking Gomis. Yoshida shows Shelvey to his right onto Davis who has gotten back. Problem is that Davis seemed not to expect Shelvey to turn back into him and couldn't stop his momentum. Shelvey beats him by going right and putting the ball past Davis, creating some space which he then used to immediately blasted it into the net. If Reed had been in, he might have stopped it because he would have been playing deeper. It wasn't down to any player playing bad defense, but rather a tactical decision to push the midfielders higher up, and a great play by Shelvey.
Tintin's problem was his attitude; he only put it in for the big games, against the big teams. He needs to sort out his attitude for games like Palace and Swansea
TBF....he didn't want to do it...his nerve was shot, but we dragged him off the bench. Hope he recovers.
I flew over from Belfast for the weekend to watch the match, it was very frustrating. I felt like Swansea were on a plate for us in the first half, JWP should have scored and has to take responsibility for us going in level at HT. Pelle missed a great chance at the end too and some of Tadic's approach play was shocking. He seems a shadow of the player he was in the first quarter/half of the season. He seems so indecisive, he kept getting the ball tangled up in his feet in the area instead having an effort on goal. Mane was good when he came on and I thought Elia had an another solid game so I personally would give Dusan some bench time. Would've been good to sign another striker in this window. All in all it wasn't a bad display but with little more to cheer about than another great performance from Reed. We looked very dangerous on the flanks again which was encouraging but unfortunately Ashley Williams in particular was equal to anything and everything in the box. I absolutely hate Shelvey too.
