Poistives from Yesterday

Stephens again looked very good, Austin looked interested and up for the challenge just not enough support.

Romeu....what a tackle that was.....tackle of the season that left Pieters looking battered was absolute quality.

Stephens again looked very good, Austin looked interested and up for the challenge just not enough support.

Romeu....what a tackle that was.....tackle of the season that left Pieters looking battered was absolute quality.

Romeu- up at the top of the number of tackles and number of interceptions for the season. (The Times):

Most tackles:

I Gueye (Everton) 136

N Kanté (Chelsea) 127

O Romeu (Saints) 117

Most interceptions:

C Davies (Hull) 91

L Koscielny (Arsenal) 90

O Romeu (Saints) 90

The spine was good -Forster, Stephens, Romeu, Austin. Northam support up until PC scored. Sunshine. Less traffic going home.

The kid goalie during the walkaround....wow what some saves they made.

Nod to Yoshida as well - an occasionally sung rather than unsung hero this year, but was outperforming Fonte before he left and has done a possibly under appreciated job of holding things together at the back after VVD got injured, helping Stephens through the early games he played.

Great season from him, no longer makes you shudder at the thought a prolonged run in the team - very good reader of the game and rarely made a mistake this year.

You are right about Yoshida, not far off player of the season, my second choice anyway.

Nod to Yoshida as well - an occasionally sung rather than unsung hero this year, but was outperforming Fonte before he left and has done a possibly under appreciated job of holding things together at the back after VVD got injured, helping Stephens through the early games he played.

 

Great season from him, no longer makes you shudder at the thought a prolonged run in the team - very good reader of the game and rarely made a mistake this year.

Nice appraisal of a much battered individual, who lets face it can make catastrophic mistakes from time to time.

Nod from this quarter too .... his tackle on The Freak yesterday was on a par with Oriel's. One microsecond later and that would have been a pen. My heart was in my mouth though when he didn't get up from the tackle ...... Yoshida is my Player of the Year "runner up".

One positive is no matter how **** the game is the sight of Kenzie tottering across the pitch in high heels and tight jeans at half time always brings a smile to my face...

Good to see both Maya and Jack driving out of defence into attack in an effort to get something to happen, Jack in the last 2 games made me think of VVD when he glides out of defence for a change of scenery.

Young Jack has had a bit more of an air of confidence about him these last few games, I think the best thing for him was having Maya alongside him because even when Yoshida was flitting in and out of the team you could always see that he is very good at reading the game. Plus he was invariably looking to protect Jack, which is how they sometimes ended up in the same place at the same time.

If Virgil stays, wouldn't object to us going all Chelsea with the 3 of them at the back!!

Romeu, as he has been all season, was again getting stuck in and against hurley burly Stoke the kind of player you want on the pitch to hand back at them. I liked in one of those videos the club do where they ask the players what they like for their tea etc. "Who do you least like tackling in training" just about all of them said Oriol!...... Even Charlie Austin.

Good to see Charlie back too trying to get things going and getting in where it hurts, and fair play to him when he made an error instantly holding his hands up in apology: unlike someone else who would blame a swooping seagull circling above the pitch if he could.

Just a shame not to see Gabbi playing off Charlie.

One positive is no matter how **** the game is the sight of Kenzie tottering across the pitch in high heels and tight jeans at half time always brings a smile to my face...

Wasn't she wearing a tight red dress on Sunday? Not that I was looking.

The spine was good -Forster, Stephens, Romeu, Austin. Northam support up until PC scored. Sunshine. Less traffic going home.

I really must offer an alternate view on Forster. Again he had no presence, no authority, no intention to even influence (let alone dominate) his penalty area. The mess up with Jack was a classic. As the goalie, with clear view of what's in front, it's his job to take control, make a positive decisio and relay that to his defenders. What happened? Nada. Nearly a major cock up. Sorry but this season Forster has lost the plot. Need a better solution.