5string

Brought up New Forest (Blackfield), now live in Airdrie. Got Radio Norfolk online keeping me up to date-ish. All a bit surreal.

Free kick 25 yards out for Saints. JWP? Yup. Ah, but Tadic on target, save made. ooh! Corner

Listening to Radio Norfolk (even though I live near Glasgow!). Hearing Hoj's name a lot. Ok, Norwich corner, crowd perked up... ... cleared to edge of box, then back to Norwich keeper.

1-4 1-2 0-3 Yeah, great Xmas! Rubbish and, quite frankly, embarrassing.

That was coming. Appalling play [not quite] out of defence. Just shocking. Really.

... and then he gives a penalty away! Nice timing 2-0 Oh dear!

Ah, couldn't see that. Nice one, Redmond!

He was offside!!!!! Ref? Whistle? Lino?

Straight at the keeper!

Boufal on for Tadic

Good chase by Redmond to win a corner.

High foot from Romeu, slightly hurt but he's ok. I thought [Everton's] Davies went through him a bit. Would have been a sin-bin offence in rugby.

Oops, sorry. Edited for forum consumption: Having only started watching the game after 30 mins, I thought we looked pretty rubbish. Showing no adventure in attack, and we still look awful up there. Some chances, considering lots of possession, loads of sideways/backwards movement, but not as much as when we're at home (thankfully!). We can't nick this.

Aye, true, you'd think 'the new Henry' would've done a half-twist dummy scissors flying bicycle backheel. Tch!

Having only started watching the game after 30 mins, I thought we looked pretty good. Showing some adventure in attack, although we still look a bit light up there. Some chances, ok possession, a bit of sideways/backwards movement, but not as much as when we're at home (frustratingly!). We can nick this.

Redmond free header from near the penalty spot... wide! Replay shows it was just behind him & he had to twist a bit.

Wow good pass Forster! Shame we lost it by going sideways...

I think we have the players (maybe minus one striker), but they're not applied properly in a positional/tactical sense, IMO. We're too predictable and orderly - it's like watching the Trooping of the Colour when we're in possession! Main point here: Watching other matches, there's a degree of 'chaos' ('unpredictability'?) from most teams which generally leads to goals. I think we need to be more chaotic in our play, rather than orderly. It's the midfield where it's going wrong - too slow, backwards etc etc (said before by many). We have several 'attacking midfielders' (JWP, Hoj, Davis, Tadic, Redmond) but they never sodding attack! And why can't Romeu & Clasie attack more? Or VvD? Rather than specific roles for these players, they all need to have several jobs, including covering for those who want to try something different. Total football - everyone should be able to play everywhere with confidence and understanding of their role in each area of the field. See the gap and fill it, whether it's attack or defence. Grr, the start of a serious rant, which I've now had to curtail.

Just got in. Oh dear, poor result. And reading this forum it seems we didn't play very well. Did we deserve to lose, or were we unlucky with decisions? Some text commentary suggests WBA could have had a couple of players sent off, but then VvD did get sent off (so another one-game ban). At least Long scored...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38453345 In summary, according to this article.. Who wants ("is linked with") our players? VvD: Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd, Long: Sunderland JRod: WBA They say Fonte "is the most likely to leave", but then don't link him with anyone! Eh?! Who we want (apparently): Eric Choupo-Moting, 27, FW, (Schalke) Wylan Cyprien, 21, CM, (Nice) Lucas Perez, 28, CF, (Arsenal) Fabian Schar, 25, CB, (Hoffenheim) Molla Wague, 25, CB, (Udinese) Kevin Wimmer, 24, CB, (Tottenham) Dani Parejo, 27, CM, (Valencia) Jacob Murphy, 21, RM, (Norwich City) Nemanja Gudelj, 25, CM, (Ajax).

Hmm, not our best. Ah well, only 3 days til the next game. Time to move on.

Bleedin' 'eck Saints! Come on! No giving up. Ever!

Buggar! Game over... even with 3 attacking subs.

Seeing the replay of Redmond's 'challenge', I'm not convinced it was even a free kick. Alli got away (good advantage by ref) and had a clean shot (which he mucked up). Redmond didn't touch him anywhere near the box - he fell over but missed Alli completely. Maybe a retrospective yellow at most. Not a penalty. Not a red. In my opinion.

Hoj [for Davis], Long [JRod off] & Tadic [for Boufal] coming on. Sh1t or bust, then!