ScepticalStan
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Posts posted by ScepticalStan
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People don't see past the score very often. The difference between a clean sheet and a sound beating was their inept finishing. For all our position our attempts were half chances mostly, one pretty good one from Long but no real sitters. It was pinball in our box most the second half, they managed to miss a couple of **** easy chances and a penalty.
Do people who praise these sorts of clean sheets react with genuine surprise when the same defence gets soundly beaten a week later? We conceded 3 to a **** Watford side and it could have been more. 3 to a **** West Ham side, 3 to Man Utd and most surprisingly, only 2 to Spurs. God knows what the score would have been if Kane had been fit.
So only Sunderland and Bournemouth failed to score. One through being a dire side that couldn't even get the ball, the other having a pathetic day in front of goal. Our clean sheets and most results in recent years have been built on not allowing the opposition many shots on goal at all. We now have a confident Palace side with a fast counter attack and powerful striker, and a WBA side that are very strong in the air. With this defence, both these results will depend on their attacks having an off day.
I think we might sneak a win v Palace and lose at WBA, and at this stage I guess we probably have to take the points any way they come. Losing VVD and Fonte will hopefully teach the club a lesson as the bad luck/gross incompetence will likely cost us at least a few league positions. What's the financial difference between 8th and 12th these days?
All these idiots saying 'what was the point signing him if we aren't going to play him?'....If Stephens and Yoshida get injured and we didn't have him, who plays CB dumbasses? He's been brought in as cover with VVD injured and Gaddis seemingly injured again. He clearly wasn't a transfer target for us, otherwise we'd have signed him in Jan. We found ourselves desperately short and so the free agent market was our only option and he was the best available free agent. Doesn't mean he should start.
For anyone just casually skim-reading the thread, these are the only two posts worth reading. You can more-or-less leave it there.
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ScepticalStan is an idiot cos he punts an opinion of a below average Saints player, that you don't agree with. Anybody who doesn't hold the same opinion as you. are always idiots. Very scientific.
The problem with me is that I judge players on merit, with no favouritism towards certain types of players and particularly, certain types of players from the British isles.
A lot of our fanbase see themselves as 'salt-of-the-Earth-English' types who treat 'Johnny Foreigner' with a healthy distrust and love nothing more than a trier who'll 'work hard and put a tackle in', no matter how ineffective they end up being.
You see it every time Shane Long miscontrols a pass, loses possession, fouls the opponent who tackles him and then somehow gets a round of applause for doing so.
Whereas Mane used to go on a run from inside his own half, beat 2 or 3 players along the way, scuff the shot narrowly wide of goal and then be accused of missing a 'sitter'.
The same fans who are praising Steven Davis in this thread were saying that Schneiderlin was too weak to play in the Premier League 5 years ago, and that Mane was 'The new Ali Dia' 2 years ago. Funny that isn't it?
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Wipe the froth from your mouth and calm down, funny how the managerial favourite Koeman rated him too
It's just have few idiots who can't see his worth, like you for instance...
Ah yes, all these managers rating him...
Isn't it funny how no-one has bid for him though?
Neither Pochettino nor Koeman (who apparently thought he was the bees knees) have bid for him. Both of them have plumped for a different midfielder from our previous trio respectively in Wanyama and Schneiderlin.
And on top of that, its not like players from Southampton don't attract interest in general.
Shaw, Clyne, Chambers, Fonte, Alderweireld, Lovren, Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Mane, Lallana and Lambert were all bought whilst Van Dijk, Rodriguez and Bertrand have attracted interest.
Yet no-one from Liverpool, City, United or Chelsea seem all that fussed about Steven Davis.
No 8-figure bids for our supposedly great midfielder have been received. I wonder why?
I wonder why?
He was pushed out of the wall by Herrera actually; but don't let that stop your blinkered bias.Our brave Captain got pushed out of the wall by diddy little Herrera? Ironically, that'd be just as damning if it were true. He ducked because he was scared to get a whack on the face with a football. If that were a Ramirez or Mane people would still be talking about it now.
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As illustrated by this forum, you don't get criticised as a manager for playing a hardworking but limited home-nations carthorse who is broadly identified with by much of the fanbase. Let's call it the Wotton-Schneiderlin effect.
Yup.
I often bring this up.
As late as West Ham away in 2012 (so about 3 months before promotion to the PL), I heard people around me in the crowd wanting Hammond ahead of Schneiderlin because he 'put a tackle in'. A couple of years after that, Dean Hammond was back in League 1, and Morgan Schneiderlin was in the starting XI of a top-tier international football team and attracting bids of £25Mn plus.
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He has always been sh*te in defensive midfield, from day one. Much better further forward. Todays performance was no surprise to those of us who are objective.
No thanks. He doesn't get goals or assists and has no final ball.
Average player.
Oh and he ducked for Zlatan's free-kick in the cup final, which for some reason no-one dare breathe a word about.
Can you imagine if that was Ramirez, Wanyama, Guly, Pelle, Boufal or Mane? phewwww.
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And we have the " forum essential" scapegoating.......... Pathetic
Oh ********.
You want a scapegoat its a player who purchased about 2 years later for £34Mn and is now considered one of the best players in the league being called 'Ali Dia' by the mongs in our fanbase. Or Guly being slated week-in-week-out having scored 10 or 11 goals in half a season back in the Champo. Or Ramirez being blamed for a defeat when being brought on at 3-1 down with about 5 minutes to go.
Davis is a bang average player who was utterly ****ed on today. If we want to finish higher up the league we need to improve on him.
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To be fair, he's not wrong.. have you forgotten what we played like when Gabbiadini wasn't here?
How do we know Gabbiadini's injury is as bad as all that?
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Certainly looked more agile in his Celtic days.
And Ramirez and Boufal looked like world-beaters in their youtube compilations. As every player does.
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Well first of all I disagree that he was a big improvement on Stekelenburg, and second of all, Stek was only signed as a temporary stopgap anyway, so even if he was it wouldn't exactly be much of a mitigating factor.
Forster is crap. And that's the beginning middle and end of it. His abilities were vastly overrepped by getting to play for a high-profile club like Celtic, where of course, he didn't actually have to be any good.
Simple reality is that he's a massive weakness within the team and there's a hard limit to how far up the table we can go with him at the helm. We had a ****ing magnificent defence in front of him for the past two years with a defensively-minded midfield giving him a world of protection.
For me, the thing that gives things away with Forster was VVD's reaction to his **** up at Palace.
He doesn't look shocked, or put his hands behind his head and shout "OMG :O", he just instantly spins angrily and shouts what's very clearly "oh... Fuuuuck Off" with impatience and irritability - almost as if he's always known that Forster was a fairly crap keeper and he's been waiting for/expecting something like that to happen - rather than it being a total surprise.
I would like to disagree with this. But I can't - he really is an average goalkeeper.Yeah I don't want any of it to be the case, but its true.
I'm telling you. Have a look at Van Dijk's reaction to the goal at Palace. If that were De Gea or Courtois you'd see the United/Chelsea players gasping with their mouths agape in shock.
VVD instantly spins round and you can see the angry "why-do-I-bother?" snarl on his face.
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So... everyone keeping track on who disappears from here then...
This forum needs an upvote button -
I'm not sure what you mean? Please show where you disagree with any of my statement rather than trying to infer something which is not there.
Well first of all I disagree that he was a big improvement on Stekelenburg, and second of all, Stek was only signed as a temporary stopgap anyway, so even if he was it wouldn't exactly be much of a mitigating factor.
Forster is crap. And that's the beginning middle and end of it. His abilities were vastly overrepped by getting to play for a high-profile club like Celtic, where of course, he didn't actually have to be any good.
Simple reality is that he's a massive weakness within the team and there's a hard limit to how far up the table we can go with him at the helm. We had a ****ing magnificent defence in front of him for the past two years with a defensively-minded midfield giving him a world of protection.
For me, the thing that gives things away with Forster was VVD's reaction to his **** up at Palace.
He doesn't look shocked, or put his hands behind his head and shout "OMG :O", he just instantly spins angrily and shouts what's very clearly "oh... Fuuuuck Off" with impatience and irritability - almost as if he's always known that Forster was a fairly crap keeper and he's been waiting for/expecting something like that to happen - rather than it being a total surprise.
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He was a big improvement on Stekelenburg when he came back, and he had been subject to criticism very similar to what Foster is getting now.
God almighty we're just going to keep making excuses for him aren't we?
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He's average, and always has been.
Arsenal aside I can't remember one game we've won or got a point because if him. The first goal yesterday was typical, you could see what was going to happen a mile out. Personally I think he's been found out , shoot low and he's got no chance.
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Yeah.
And its not just his shotstopping. He can't catch the ball, he's glued to his line and his distribution is shocking.
He's a glaring weakness and he's only ever looked like a decent keeper when he's had a brilliant defence in front of him.
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The save that Degea made yesterday from JWP´s great shot - thats the saves FF never makes
Yup.
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I'd like us this summer to really invest in a top keeper. The best we can get. It's the most important position for a team. Nobody can carry the keeper through a game.
This.
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With only the Premier League left this season, and fewer games, we will hopefully go on a decent run. Hopefully we'll thrash the Mancs at St Mary's and derail their Champions League ambitions
Think winning the Ropey League is probably their best bet for that and all.
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Ryan Betrand, standing behind Gabbiadini, was in an offside position, but how the assistant referee got such a key decision so hopelessly wrong, only he knows. Surely the time has come for video technology to be introduced to ensure such blatant mistakes are not allowed to happen.
Yes indeed.
Won't happen. The big clubs know full well they get most of the decisions their way. It isn't in their interest.
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I'd almost forgotten Stoke were in the Championship with us. Feels like they have been welded to the middle of the Premier League table since the beginning of time.
Heh, yeah, have a look at the **** crowds they got back then as well (literally like 13-14k or so) - it was only once they were promoted that people started talking about them as having particularly die-hard home support.
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Jrod at a push is the only one for me, but that would probably be the tipping point for him and send him on strike.
HAHAHAHA who gives a ****?
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Davis will play and will captain the team (unless injured). Whether he plays DM alongside Romeu or in a more advanced role is another matter. If he plays DM he will not get "brushed aside".
He was effortlessly brushed aside at Old Trafford. He'll be ruthlessly exposed against United. Our best bet is to bypass the midfield and play on the break.
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I wouldn't go overboard on the ref being 'good' necessarily - he gave us everything in fairness.
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Puel probably just saving him for the cup final, rather than sticking him in for the final 10 minutes of a blow out.
I ****ing hope not. Gabbi/Tadic/Boufal pick themselves as the starting front 3. Long and Redmond as the pacey options off the bench
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I wish we had Paddy "try his best" Long up front.
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Oooooh super-cali-fragi-listic-Mano-Jabba-Dee-nee.
...something something something
There used to be a brilliant one for Saganowski to the same tune which went something like:
"Super Marek Saganowski he knows where the goal is
And he built my mate a house cos he is ****ing Polish
He drives a big white van to work but never gets there early
Now he lives with a wife and kids in a two bedroom flat in Shirley"
(I can't remember the exact words but it was something like that) - either way - was sung at away days now and again in the Champo days. Its never been beaten IMO.
This forum needs an upvote button
Mamadou Sakho - thoughts?
in The Saints
Posted
You talked good sense on another thread but I think you're wrong here. Almost all of these players are picked on reputation and the prestige of the clubs they play for. I'd never dream of having Silva, Luiz, Koscielny, Bonnuci or Godin ahead of VVD. None of them are vastly better defenders than him and certainly the likes of Godin and Bonnuci don't have anywhere near the footballing ability or range of passing that he does.
Put it this way, judging by your list, I've got a very strong feeling that a couple of years ago, you'd have been rating the likes of Otamendi when he was at Valencia higher than Alderweireld when he was with little old Saints.