Southampton (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[ChicagoBlue]

“Handball” goal and 2 penalties is a little more than a “bad day at the VAR Office!”

It’s a travesty that COMPLETELY changed the outcome of a European qualification game!

 

[Grassland Blue]

I'm not one for CONspiracy theories, but the refereeing & VAR decisions in the Spurs v Brighton game just beggar belief!

No one watching that could possibly draw any other conclusion than something went MASSIVELY wrong & there needs to be an urgent independent inquiry into that match!

I've NEVER seen such a string of bullshit decisions strung together in my natural?? :-/

Brighton had to be stopped from the slim chance getting that final C/L spot.
Operation keep the rags in 4th.

 

[OB1]

Much more enjoyable than the other visit of the season to St Mary's - what a contrast, definitely a case of miserable gray wet skies to sunshine and smiles.

Tricky game to begin with. The accepted way to play City seems to have moved to man marking and pressing high. Saints have the pace to make that a pain to play against. Didn't pay it a lot of attention but I think they were also having one CB drop off a bit to make it less attractive for Eddie to drop one over their largely high line.

What impressed in the early stages was how City stayed patient and didn't take unnecessary risks (one stupid moment aside), then just as the first half is coming to a close, one bit of space exploited to the full.

Second half, excellent, apart from letting one of their players do the waltz in our box.

Just keep it up City.

 

[pride in battle]

Just wanted to say I don’t think Nathan Ake will get appropriate recognition for the brilliant work he did today, especially in the first half when we weren’t really clicking yet.

I posted this in his performance thread but I think it is worth reposting here:

Ake had a few he sniffed out but that 1v1 situation resulting from the poor back pass and fluff from Kev was one that stood out to me.

Soton score there and the game is very different. Perhaps we still win—as poking the beast hasn’t exactly worked with us most of the time this season—but he made sure we didn’t have to come from behind by keeping his head and playing what looked a very tentative attacker in to making a mistake that Eddie could pounce on.

He didn’t go to ground rashly, he didn’t give up running; he coolly slowed and shepherded the Soton forward and made him think about his next move. He saw the entire chess board in an instant and the opposition could only see the pawns closing in.

As someone may or may not have said once, battle is won or lost in the six inches between your ears, and right now I wouldn’t trade the bits between his for any other defender’s in the league.

Personally I didn't think it was good defending, he gave him way much space and time, if he hadn't missed controlled it he was free on goal...

 

[stonerblue]

Much more enjoyable than the other visit of the season to St Mary's - what a contrast, definitely a case of miserable gray wet skies to sunshine and smiles.

Tricky game to begin with. The accepted way to play City seems to have moved to man marking and pressing high. Saints have the pace to make that a pain to play against. Didn't pay it a lot of attention but I think they were also having one CB drop off a bit to make it less attractive for Eddie to drop one over their largely high line.

What impressed in the early stages was how City stayed patient and didn't take unnecessary risks (one stupid moment aside), then just as the first half is coming to a close, one bit of space exploited to the full.

Second half, excellent, apart from letting one of their players do the waltz in our box.

Just keep it up City.

We've got to give that kid some credit. It was a great piece of dribbling skill then he found the pass when others would have blindly smashed it.

 

[normskih]

Much better second half. Another 1 shot on target 1 goal for our opponents

Good goal it was though.

 

[OB1]

We've got to give that kid some credit. It was a great piece of dribbling skill then he found the pass when others would have blindly smashed it.

True enough. Irritating how team's in the lower reaches can pull worldies out against us.

I think Saints have got a few talented young players and can see them bouncing straight back if they go down. I actually hope they a great escape this season as it's not good game to go to from where we live.

 

[SebastianBlue]

It‘s a tap in!

For Erling, that is a tap in!

 

[malg]

Got the NOW TV day pass to watch it. The post match was that bad I switched it off. I know that Arsenal have broken through and it's a good story, but they'd just finished our game and decided that they'd discuss Arsenal's game v Liverpool. There's time to cover that game and highlight it, but not directly after our game has finished.

 

[dadnlad]

Most of the first half was frustrating but second half we went up a couple of gears. Well happy.

I thought our fans were magnificent today, loud and proud.

Thing with that is first goal before half time changes game if go in 0.0 then delaying tactics time outs and subs makes second half disjointed and even more frustrating

 

[SebastianBlue]

Personally I didn't think it was good defending, he gave him way much space and time, if he hadn't missed controlled it he was free on goal...

You’ll catch a few with that…

 

[Stoned Rose]

Because of his goals, Haaland may win it but I think you’re dead right. Ake, week in, week out has turned up and done exactly what’s been asked of him and more. He’s had an exceptional season.

Proper no nonsense, get the job (really well) done player.

You can see Grealish loves their partnership as well. Trust each other and always have each other’s backs. Both are solid when need to be but are brilliant at turning up the heat at just the right times.

It’s amazing how Pep “sees” these partnerships happening “in advance” before he goes into the transfer market.

 

[give it to gordon]

That defies the laws of physics

If it wasnt such a bad pass by jack he wouldnt have scored that lol

 

[hilts]

PGMOL have apologised to Brighton for the refereeing error regarding the foul on Mitoma. What good is an apology now? Brighton have been denied a possible point or a victory for the other cast iron penalty when the Brighton player was dragged down during a corner kick.

Spuds have benefitted by three points & Brighton have been denied three points. Can you imagine the shitstorm if Spuds reach the CL by finishing three points ahead of Brighton?

VAR was supposed to stop all this. My bet is someone on the VAR or referee team had his family being held hostage until he delivered a Spuds victory by fair means or foul... :-/

I cannot think of any good reason for those calls. Mistakes can happen but you cannot not see what is right in front of your eyes.

 

[Dodge]

Our away support this season is as good as I can remember it. Totally unique songbook, edgy as fuck and everyone young and old up for it.

As an "independent traveller" the car gets parked wherever we can dump it, which means we're usually walking from the ground amongst the home support. I've heard Leeds fans describing our support as "the best we've had here in years". Forest fans "forgotten how good City's away support is". Saints fans yesterday "they deserve to win the league just for that away support". Palace fans "that lot could teach our ultras a thing or two about backing their team".

We've never lost that self deprecating Mancunian sense of humour, despite our success. How can anyone take the piss out of us when we do it to ourselves better than anyone? You can see the respect and joy it brings to the players and Pep. Bernie's cheeky little wave to us during the break in play when he came on was a thing of beauty.

So proud to be part of it all. Its the one thing about our Club that can never be questioned and any proper match going rival knows it.

I salute every single one of our absolute away day nutters.

 

[Dribble]

I cannot think of any good reason for those calls. Mistakes can happen but you cannot not see what is right in front of your eyes.

It beggars belief! The ref was stood 10m away from the incident with an unobstructed view. Every angle VAR showed you could clearly see the foul.

The only people who seem to disagree were VAR & the referee... Summat stinks.

 

[Lauz9888]

Proper no nonsense, get the job (really well) done player.

You can see Grealish loves their partnership as well. Trust each other and always have each other’s backs. Both are solid when need to be but are brilliant at turning up the heat at just the right times.

It’s amazing how Pep “sees” these partnerships happening “in advance” before he goes into the transfer market.

I'm really loving that left-hand side now and think it's only going to get better as they get more and more matches together. Two properly hard-working players who understand their roles and are doing everything they can for the team, match after match.

 

[Jim Tolmie's Underpants]

 

[The perfect fumble]

Always worth a watch...

 

[Bowyers Sausages]

Post of the day!