When it goes against you ~ 2pt robbery at Watford; 3pt robbery by Chelsea (Alonso & the Non-red card) Due some luck and a change of fortune, me thinks! Stop press: Even worse now that Alonso has been 'cited' by the FA re: his stamp on Shane Long
But we are where we deserve to be at this stage of the season, we have been poor for much of it in truth and i'm sure that other club's fans will point to injustices against their team too.
No denying that. This will be our most deserved relegation of our entire history. (I've only witnessed 2 mind)
Imagine if, on the final day, all we need is a 0-0 draw, but Man City need a win to break the points record. Gonna need a fleet of double-deckers.
My view of the solution to squad changes if we go down to the Championship is that our best tactic will be simply to avoid the drop in the first place. I expect us to avoid it. Or last two games we've looked like a new team. If they'd been against anyone but a pair of top six sides we'd have torn someone a new arsehole. We can definitely do it. Vin
Betfair percentages for relegation. There's a bundle of academic literature to support the idea that betting exchange prices tend to reflect the true chances of something happening. 87.3% Stoke 61.9% Southampton 15.8% Huddersfield 17.2% Swansea 3.6% C Palace 3.9% West Ham 10.0% Brighton 0.1% Newcastle Vin
Of course there are. For people to bring up just the things that have gone against us, just stinks of sour grapes and whinging, in my book.
We went for it against West Ham... Go back to the home game against Leicester. I was pulling my hair out from the first minute about the lack of respect we were giving Leicester. Only leaving one man back defending at corners etc. What is Leicester's one (exceptionally useful) tactic? Having Vardy and Mahrez hit you on the break. So you know what, how about dropping back 10 yards, how about not throwing that extra man forward, how about forcing them to find a way through you? To a lesser extent, it was the same against West Ham as it happens.
The handball goal at Watford, for example. Had it been disallowed and we’d held on to all three points, it may have given the team the belief that has been missing, and altered future results. All hypothetical, but no one knows just how much that “win” could have changed our season. I don’t think it is sour grapes or whinging, to rant and rage against clear injustices, especially when there are two very obvious incidents that have cost us 5 points, 5 points that would have put us above Swansea on goal difference, because our GD would be better than it is now. I am hypothesising that we would have beaten a ten man Chelsea, even with Giroud. You could also add the point we lost at Man City, because the ref wouldn’t whistle for full time while City were on the ball and near our goal. I have no doubt that had we been the team pressing, at the other end, the ref wouldn’t have shown us the same courtesy.
I sort of agree BUT and I really don't feel comfortable sounding pessimistic, but I'm basing this on the facts as I have experienced them as a Saints fan Have you noticed our tendency in the EPL to play at our best v big sides and gain a creditable loss and then follow this up by being pants v lower sides and gain an embarrassing loss. Another fact I observed in the "Matty saves us from relegation again" years was that going into games later in the season I would say that a win would set us on the road to salvation, while a loss would be another nail in the coffin ... AND ... THEN ... WE WOULD DRAW and I'd be well what does that mean then?
When a handball goal is given its not whinging, it's completely justified. Whinging would be getting petty over a minimal offside which would be hard to call in real time. That's why I don't understand how most people are against VAR, regardless of the shape that it's in. For Red Cards and incidents etc like the Watford handball goal. Decisions that don't need much interpreting but are massive in terms of the outcome of a game. RFU have done a good job of it and so has the NFL.
I agree, we've been bloody unlucky And I've no idea how unlucky other teams have been because its not our job to notice that
Well I'm with you on the VAR point. But then I've been a quite vocal supporter of VAR on here. As for bringing up things like the Watford handball, it's not people mentioning the decision itself that I'm getting at. It's the fact that people's sole focus is on decisions that have gone against us. Well hang on, there's 19 other sides in this league. And in particular, a good chuck in the relegation battle this season. We're not the only side to have been hard done by. If someone wants to come back and give me a table of how the league would look if every decision had been correct, then brilliant. And if that has us currently outside the bottom three, I'll start listening more. We're not the only side to have been hard done by, and it's not as simple as to just add five points onto our tally. Until VAR comes in, I'd rather just go with the flow.
Race (or stumble) to the finish line sort of starts tonight. First up, a favour from Poch, Victor and Toby.
