Saints 3 Leicester 0 match reaction

Did our match actually take place?

I've just watched the sports report on BBC Breakfast News.

Sally Nugent mentioned the Arsenal & Chelsea games in her normal simpering style

Absolutely no mention of us (or did I blink and miss it)?

You obviously missed his succession of superb corners, free kicks and crosses.

Perhaps his guide dog was not paying attention

Match of the day didn't even show the incident with Vardy on VVD.

That really grated on me. Little chav *****!

Forgot to say something positive! Thought Cedric was our MOM today. Industrious workrate, covered defence and attack brilliant. As good a performance as we ever saw from Clyne, IMO.

Hojbjerg and Romeu both good too (PEH needs shooting practice though). JWP had a good first half, died off in the second. JRod's goal was excellent too. I didn't think he got enough praise for it what with the focus on JWP's. Yes, that was good too, but the keeper should have done better. JRod's was akin to trying to fling a Frisbee sideways through a letterbox.

To be fair, there were no bad performances today. I really think Puel has to think twice before playing Martina over Cedric now though. There is a massive gulf between them.

Enjoyed the game. On to Liverfool!

We are a much more potent team when we have Bertrand and Cedric playing, particularly when we also have Tadic and Redmond ahead of them. The two of them give us width and pace out wide, but both are adept at tracking back quickly to defend. So Leicester were poor, but as always the question arises as to how poor we made them look? The other factor that produced the convincing win, was how the man of the match poll distributed the votes to several players, highlighting a great team performance with no particular weaknesses.

In defence, Fonte would have normally have been first choice over Yoshida, but Yoshida has improved his game significantly since Fonte has been left out and against pacey players like Vardy, it is arguable that Fonte is slower, whereas Yoshida is seldom beaten for pace. Even when our defensive linchpin V V-D went off injured, Stephens was comfortable with the other three around him.

The midfield was also solid with Romeu the rock and J W-P and Hojbjerg both playing well, intercepting and passing efficiently to link the midfield and final third.

Up front Rodriguez is growing in confidence and ability match by match and Redmond and Tadic are both tricky players to deal with around or in the box.

Tactically Puel once more did a good job, firming up the midfield bite with Clasie and the pace of Long against tiring Leicester legs.

Psychologically, we have a good boost ahead of the Liverpool match, whereas they have received a confidence knock following their loss against Swansea. We also know that if we score at Anfield, they have to score three times to beat us. If we field a similar team and play with the same commitment we can beat them, but it would help if V V-D was fit to play.

Fickle things football fans! Three goals against a really weak side and everything's good again. Thought people never wanted to see JWP and Hojberg in the same side again, now they're our number one pairing, based on one decent game.

Plenty of positives though, Yoshida, Cedric, Romeu all had good games and the front three of Tadic/Redmond/Jay Rod looks well balanced and threatening when they are all on their game (which they were yesterday).

Did MOTD2 clear up the phantom/non-offside goal? And not seen it anywhere else, why wasn't the foul on long for the penalty a straight red?

Onwards and upwards, never get too high when we win or too low when we lose (unless we win on Weds then we can get as high as we like for the rest of the season).

Who said they didn't want hoj and jwp. The only midfield I don't want to see is Clasie and JWP together or Davis and Hoj. JWP and Hoj is fine.

Who said they didn't want hoj and jwp. The only midfield I don't want to see is Clasie and JWP together or Davis and Hoj. JWP and Hoj is fine.

I might have got that wrong then, I should have just written 'people didn't want to see JWP....in the side again' .

 

Did MOTD2 clear up the phantom/non-offside goal? And not seen it anywhere else, why wasn't the foul on long for the penalty a straight red?

 

MOTD2 took Yoshida as being offside and interfering with play for the dissallowed goal. For the penalty, it was just taken as it happened.

And not seen it anywhere else, why wasn't the foul on long for the penalty a straight red?

Isn't it just down to this? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36047575

Not sure how it was accidental

MOTD2 took Yoshida as being offside and interfering with play for the dissallowed goal. For the penalty, it was just taken as it happened.

If the officials deem Yoshida to be in an offside position, then he's clearly interfering with play as he's in contact with Morgan, so from that perspective I've no issue with the goal being disallowed. Whether he's actually offside or not is a more contentious issue, IMO, as you could argue that it's only his arm that is technically offside, and as you can't legally play the ball with your arm, it should be disregarded by the assistant referee.

Isn't it just down to this? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36047575

That would imply there was an attempt to play the ball by Morgan. Anyone with a pair of eyes can see there was no such effort.

Isn't it just down to this? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36047575

But deliberate fouls will still incur a red card.

 

Those include holding, pulling or pushing, not playing the ball, serious foul play, violent conduct or deliberate handball in order to deny a goalscoring opportunity.

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

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

Yeah, but as it was Long, was it technically a goal-scoring opportunity?

Yeah, but as it was Long, was it technically a goal-scoring opportunity?

Yeah, but as it was Long, was it technically a goal-scoring opportunity?

Good point. The ref must have taken that into account

Did our match actually take place?

I've just watched the sports report on BBC Breakfast News.

Sally Nugent mentioned the Arsenal & Chelsea games in her normal simpering style

Absolutely no mention of us (or did I blink and miss it)?

She mentioned us on the bulletin on around 7:40 and they showed JRod's goal.

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

That would have been harsh, in my opinion.

If the officials deem Yoshida to be in an offside position, then he's clearly interfering with play as he's in contact with Morgan, so from that perspective I've no issue with the goal being disallowed. Whether he's actually offside or not is a more contentious issue, IMO, as you could argue that it's only his arm that is technically offside, and as you can't legally play the ball with your arm, it should be disregarded by the assistant referee.

 

 

That would imply there was an attempt to play the ball by Morgan. Anyone with a pair of eyes can see there was no such effort.

The arms are expliciitly excluded by The Laws when considering offside, but I think Yoshida is more offside than onside anyway. I have no problems with the decision.

Interestingly, Leicester played a diamond first half, and we found diagonal forward passes from central midfield to the wings easy to come by until they changed shape. This was pretty much the same story for us at the start of the season, when teams seemed to find easy passing lanes to the far edges of our penalty area almost at will. So I wonder if our forward passing was more a consequence of these actually being the most high percentage, low pressure balls, rather than us suddenly finding the courage to take a more attacking approach?

Good perfromance, although Leicester were poor. If they get through to the next round of thr CL they could end up in the bottom 3.

 

Cedric was brilliant, the midfield were all good ( apart from PH''s shooting) amd the fowards alll linked well.

 

Shout out to Peul for getting Stephens to stay back for corners after we got outnumbered on the break when Scheichal caught one of ours.

Exactly. We played quite well. We usually play quite well.

Spot on

Cedric really did have a good game and even when beaten made it as tough as possible for Gray to score.

I stand corrected although the 8.40 bulletin only showed the other 2 matches

I have nothing particularly constructive to add other than to say I can't remember being to a game with that light. It was a weird, vivid white, misty sunshine that made the colours stand out brilliantly.

Clearly not the important part of the day but something that stuck with me

I think Maya was sort of fouling Big Wes on seeing it back, so probably a correct decision on balance; we got lucky with the first goal as Jay Rod clearly was offside and unsighting Schmichel which he was moaning to the ref about at half time! Annoying they didn't show the Rat/VVD incident...

Gray reminded me of how I imagine Redmond was a few years ago (if you see what I mean).

Loads of potential but needs to work on the mental side of the game. I can see why Ranieri hasn't started him much.

I think Maya was sort of fouling Big Wes on seeing it back, so probably a correct decision on balance; we got lucky with the first goal as Jay Rod clearly was offside and unsighting Schmichel which he was moaning to the ref about at half time! Annoying they didn't show the Rat/VVD incident...

Don't agree with you re the first goal. That won't be given as offside nowadays. That was the correct decision under current interpretations. Schmeichel's first reaction at the time was to be despondent - he didn't get up and complain straight away.

I also don't agree re Maya. Morgan and Huth dish out far worse than that every set piece - viz. the clear foul on Clasie before Morgan's goal against us last season and the blatant penalty Leicester got away with in virtually every match! - and Morgan didn't complain at all.