Sheaf Saint

Very rarely watch any TV these days, but I have just finished binge-watching The Expanse on Netflix on a recommendation from a friend. For those that aren't familiar it is set about 200 years in the future where humans have colonised the solar system, and the core theme of the series is the political tensions between the governments of Earth, the Mars colony, and the 'Belters' - who inhabit the mining colonies in the asteroid belt. It's a very well-paced program without being too over the top or corny with the action sequences, and they have obviously researched the science side of things very well to make it believable. I have to say it's probably the best sci-fi series in many, many years, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the second series which is currently being aired in the US and will be available on Netflix in the next couple of months. As is often the case with such things, I gather that the budget has increased massively after the success of the first series. I just hope the producers haven't used this as an excuse to rely more heavily on effects and ridiculous set-pieces to generate appeal, as is the case with a lot of sci-fi these days.

Just about the only positive I can take from that is that Gabbiadini had a good debut and showed that he will get us goals if we create the chances for him. Other than that, f*cking dreadful - again! 6 defeats in 7 in the league, and the 3rd time in recent weeks that we have lost from a leading position at home. Absolutely not good enough. My biggest concern is Forster. He had no chance with the first goal, which was all down to us leaving their midfielder the freedom of St Marys to pick the ball through to Carroll without getting anywhere near him. But how did he not save a 30 yard shot that was so weak it bounced 4 times before it went in? Then he failed to set the defensive wall up properly and basically invited Noble to hit it, knowing full well that it only needed the slightest deflection to score. He never makes any saves that you don't expect him to make, and more worryingly he does the opposite quite frequently - doesn't make saves that you do expect him to. I appreciate that our back four is a little patched up at the moment with Fonte not replaced and VVD out for a while, but overall they did a decent enough job today to limit West Ham's chances (except for the first goal) and they are being let down time and time again by a keeper who, on this season's form, is not good enough for a mid-table PL club like us.

He's wearing a West Ham shirt, after we sold him without finding a replacement.

Forster has to take all the responsibility for that 3rd goal, for not setting the wall up right. The way it was set out, we basically invited Noble to hit it, knowing full well that the slightest touch would put it in the net.

Commentators creaming themselves over what a great strike that was from Obiang. It was a f*cking daisycutter that any decent keeper would have saved. Watch the replay and the ball bounced four times before nestling in the net. Four times. Forster has become a massive (literally) liability.

What an impact! Take a bow son!

Wasn't even a second string though, was it. Martina and McQueen are our 3rd choice FBs. Lewis is our 3rd choice GK (or even 4th with Taylor hanging around). Prior to Fonte's departure, Stephens and Gardos were our 4th and 5th choice CBs. Reed isn't even a regular on the bench despite having only Romeu in front of him in his position, and Isgrove is nowhere near the first team usually (surely that's the last time we will see him in a Saints shirt now - he's had so many years to prove himself and he is nothing like PL quality) Of the players who started tonight, only Long, Hojbjerg and Clasie are regulars in the PL matchday squad, but not even regular starters (and few people on here would class them in our best XI).

Which adds up to 63K for the fans of both finalists. Wembley has a capacity of 90K. So who gets the other 27K?

Lost my stream half way through the second half and only got it back sporadically towards the end. I had Bet365 open in another tab and when I heard the crowd sound effect they play when there is a goal in the match you are following, I feared the worst. Clicked on it to see and it took a few moments to sink in that it was us who had scored. Just phenomenal. Getting to watch Saints play at the San Siro and at Wembley in the same season - all you Puel critics can just f*** off.

Or you could just ignore them.

Good point. The ref must have taken that into account

So it should have been a red card then. No attempt to play the ball and a blatant push on Long.

When you see him losing his rag and arguing with the officials he has the look of a man who, if you met him in town on a night out, would sooner smash a bottle and stick it in your face than shake your hand. His 'tackle' on VVD today was a cynical and deliberate attempt to put our best player out of the game. And the nasty little c*** got away with it.

Well yeah, but he didn't actually flag for it until,after the ref came over to talk to him about it, which suggests that he didn't actually see any offside (the replay shows he was dead level). So what exactly did the ref say to him? If he wanted to manufacture a reason to disallow the goal, why not just blow for a phantom foul, like they do all the time anyway?

I'm still confused about the disallowed OG from Morgan. Seems like everybody was happy with it until the ref took it upon himself to go over and talk to the lino, and only then did he give it offside. Very strange. Very happy though. Finally we are rewarded for a decent performance with a convincing win, which is something our strikers' profligacy has mostly prevented from happening so far this season. Pleased to see JWP get a goal and set one up. I know he has his limitations and his critics, but he clearly is one of the best dead-ball hitters in the PL, and anybody who can't see that is either too blind or too blinkered to want to see it. Yoshida MOTM for me. Didn't put a foot wrong at the back all game and kept Leicester's attack completely under wraps.

The only worse one that springs to mind is when we played Man U in the cup while we were still in L1 (2010, was it?). Don't know who the ref was that night but he really might as well have had a Utd shirt on. Every time one of their players fell over he gave them a FK, and gave us absolutely nothing all night. Even one of the most blatant, cynical fouls to prevent a counter attack, one of the most obvious yellow card decisions you will ever see, didn't even warrant a FK.

8-1-1 formation for the return leg then?

Who the hell was supposed to be marking Naismith for their second? Shambolic defending. Other than that, it looked to me that it all came down to the keepers today. McGovern made a couple of great stops from Tadic, while our rookie made a schoolboy error leading to their penalty.

Is it really asking too much to expect our forward players to stick the ball in the f*cking net from time to time?

The ball-watching I was referring to was before the cross even came in.

All this talk about the possibility of Redmond being offside is ignoring the bigger issue. Watch the replay and you will see every Saints player in our area ball-watching and leaving 3 Everton players unmarked. Schoolboy stuff to allow Valencia to waltz in there and get on to that rebound unchallenged.

Just watching the goals back now... 1st - Our entire defence ball-watching and 3 Everton players left unmarked in the area. 2nd - Ridiculous challenge from Yoshida, was only ever going to go one way and we have a keeper that doesn't save penalties 3rd - Fonte switched off and allowed himself to be dispossessed when Everton had numbers forward. Good finish, but anything at Forster's near post seems to go in. Can anybody please exlpain to me how this is the manager's fault? The shape and tactics were OK today, what was lacking was any quality going forward to punish Everton when they looked vulnerable. Redmond is a total waste of space and can't score/create a single thing. Tadic has quality but is badly out of form right now Rodriguez didn't get much service and nearly scored a brillianbt indiviudal goal in the first half, but that was the extent of our goal threat. JWP and Clasie never offer anything in terms of attack Boufal only had 20 minutes and didn't get any decent service Long has the ball skills of a pub league player and is only effective when the opposition is playing a high defensive line, which Everton weren't all game, let alone after going ahead. Changes needed in the playing staff, but to sack the manager now would be a wrong move IMO.

Yeah of course, it's all Puel's fault that Fonte just switched off and gave the ball away so cheaply in our own 3rd. Muppet!

Can't blame Puel for this. It's not nhis tactics that have been lackign today, it has been our total inability to create any decent scoring opportunities let alone score from them. Redmond is an utter waste of space. Tadic has not been in form since returning from that nose injury, but we know he has quality when on form. Long has the touch of a JWP and Clasie work hard but offer no goal threat at all. And as I type, we let in another after Fonte gets caught dawdling with the ball in our own 3rd. Puel can only work with what he has got. The players have been nowhere near good enough today.

WTF was Yoshida thinking!? He was never going to win that ball without giving away a foul. Ridiculous. Everton have been utter sh*t today, and we have just surrendered a 2-0 lead to them now. F*cking pathetic display boys. F*cking pathetic!