Yoshida hard as nails!

After getting studs under his eye by Carlton cole which IMO was a blatently sending off he physically dominated Andy Carroll before he got injured. Carroll is a donkey but he's strong and yoshi absolutely owned him. Never realised how tough he was until last night.

I remember back in our first victory in the Premiership watching him up against Benteke and putting on an absolute textbook performance as a centre-back for how to deal with a striker who's bigger than you. He's always been far better than a lot of people realise.

A good squad player to have around with the added bonus that he doesn't seem to mind his role as a deputy to Fonte and Toby.

Yes, yes he is.

Really like it. Team player through and through.

I have always liked Yoshida as he has a brain between his ears that processes what is going on around him well, and is pretty much always strong in the air.

After taking a kick in the chops off Cole and the ref F'ing about getting treatment on the pitch (it's a full on boot in the face that's a head injury ref, you get the magic sponge men on regardless: thank goodness Mr East was on his game at QPR when young Matthew was clattered and it wasn't this clown) Maya was back into action frustrating My Little Donkey with aerial supremacy, which resulted in Carroll committing no end of pushes and shoves while Yoshida was in the air that would have been a penalty in Rugby all day long.

Then it looked like Japanese Rope-a-dope, yet again the ball was punted up towards Carroll and knowing Maya had the measure of him and decided not to win the ball but to win a free kick by feigning injury by contact, what he didn't expect was for Yoshida to take a step away from him win the ball and the Donkey got injured in the process as his intended point of contact had moved causing him to fall to the ground awkwardly crocking him for the rest of the game.

These compliments about Yoshi will have our Japanese poster Yuki salivating with delight.

Yes, he has really proved himself this season, after some suggesting we didn't need him any more. We do, he is class.

Does anyone have a picture of his cheek/eye after the challenge. I have a west ham friend who thinks cole didn't even make contact and doesn't believe there was any injury (be it blood or bruising) to yoshida. Laughable really. But what do you expect from fans of hoofball united.

Does anyone have a picture of his cheek/eye after the challenge. I have a west ham friend who thinks cole didn't even make contact and doesn't believe there was any injury (be it blood or bruising) to yoshida. Laughable really. But what do you expect from fans of hoofball united.

There was clearly blood pouring down his face on TV. It looked like the physio glued it quickly and then covered in Vaseline.

A good example of a player who rarely got a run of games in his best position, often in a queue behind Fonte, Hooiveld and Lovren.

Has played as well as I've seen him in his recent outings. How Carlton Cole remained on the pitch after that high kick will remain one of life's great mysteries.

Intentional or not - it was dangerous play. Automatic red card.

There was clearly blood pouring down his face on TV. It looked like the physio glued it quickly and then covered in Vaseline.

I saw that, too.... and wasn't just his face as it looked dangerously close to his left eye.

Does anyone have a picture of his cheek/eye after the challenge. I have a west ham friend who thinks cole didn't even make contact and doesn't believe there was any injury (be it blood or bruising) to yoshida. Laughable really. But what do you expect from fans of hoofball united.

Can't find a picture, but you could show him this quote from the WHU official live text commentary :

"51: There was no intention from Cole, but it's a nasty collison for Yoshida, who is left with a cut just under his left eye."

Watched the game on Sky in Oz - they had close ups of the gash and it was a decent one; probably has since been stiched. Many other players would have been rolling and writhing on the ground clutching their head....not our Maya, which might have been the thing that saved Cole. He has been playing out of his skin since returning from the Asia Cup - his left foot is really decent!!!!

:D:D

Goooooooo Maya! I did think he plays very well versus West Ham and has showed his qualities.

Japanese players all are committed and little problem for the Management Staff.

One of the crucial players of the SAINTS!! :cool:

Another player who has improved greatly with Saints. Great defender.

Then it looked like Japanese Rope-a-dope, yet again the ball was punted up towards Carroll and knowing Maya had the measure of him and decided not to win the ball but to win a free kick by feigning injury by contact, what he didn't expect was for Yoshida to take a step away from him win the ball and the Donkey got injured in the process as his intended point of contact had moved causing him to fall to the ground awkwardly crocking him for the rest of the game.

Thanks for confirming what I thought had happened, but began to doubt the evidence of my own eyes as it had not been discussed in detail elsewhere, unless I missed it. It seemed likewise to me that Carroll had gone to push Yoshi in the back, failed to make the contact he intended and then went down in a weird way, looking like a dog waiting to be mounted. My immediate thought was that he was feigning injury in a vane attempt to con the referee into thinking that his challenge was 50/50. or that he himself was the victim of a foul. I had expressed the opinion on the match thread that Carroll is a cheating donkey and was happy to see that KUMB site had repeated it on their thread about what we had written about them.

But in sharp contrast to the antics of the likes of Carroll, Yoshi is a shining example of how a professional footballer should act. No doubt had he been a WH player, he would have been schooled in the art of feigning mortal injury in order to get a player sent off and the rest of the team would have surrounding the referee baying for blood.

Does anyone have a picture of his cheek/eye after the challenge. I have a west ham friend who thinks cole didn't even make contact and doesn't believe there was any injury (be it blood or bruising) to yoshida. Laughable really. But what do you expect from fans of hoofball united.

See photos 20/21/22 on the gallery on official website - clearly shows blood pouring from just below the left eye.

Superb player, far better than his critics would believe. Reminds me of the days when many posters on here were giving stick to a very young Morgan Schneiderlin even when his talent was obvious. Not only is Maya Yoshida a top class player but a superlative natural leader as well and loyal to the Saints cause.

Superb player, far better than his critics would believe. Reminds me of the days when many posters on here were giving stick to a very young Morgan Schneiderlin even when his talent was obvious. Not only is Maya Yoshida a top class player but a superlative natural leader as well and loyal to the Saints cause.

My thoughts exactly.

Interesting comment about West Ham feigning injury, didn't one of their lot lay around on the floor in the Itchen/Chapel corner after Pellè blocked a clearance and the ref actually went over to have a word when he just got up after there wasn't a card?

Maya Yoshida .............The saints Samurai

These compliments about Yoshi will have our Japanese poster Yuki salivating with delight.

 

Yes, he has really proved himself this season, after some suggesting we didn't need him any more. We do, he is class.

Yoshi or Yuki?

I've never really rated him in the past, but have been proven very wrong, he's been excellent recently, and was my MoM against wham.

Cole literally could have had Yoshi's eye out. They should've been been playing with 8 men by full time.