Oh well, Toby cheered me up by giving away the penalty that helped Pochettino shuffle closer to the sack - a small crumb of comfort.
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That was the worst first half of football I have seen for a long time. The only glimmer of gold amongst the morass of shite was the encouraging debut of Romeu. He looks like he will do a great job for us.
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That Yoshida reaction was good, it should hurt, its not the defeat its manner of it.
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Everton defended really well at the back, aided in many cases by a lack of inventiveness from our own players. A lot of our attacking play could have come from fucking FIFA. Chipped through balls, well covered by the time they arrived on Pelle’s bonce.
Yoshida was disappointing. I remember him simply fucking following an Everton player down the wing, then letting him unleash a beautiful cross which we were lucky no-one was on the end of.
What are the views about Matt Targett?
He came in for some criticism on Twitter, but I really thought he had an OK game. Got forward well, played a lovely ball in behind their right-back for Long (I think).
I’ve mentioned it before, but when the DM positions aren’t working, everyone else gets found out.
I felt if Targett and Cédric were exposed, I think much of that came from a dysfunctional midfield.
They are both told to get forward and if they don’t or can’t then our play is predictable and easy to combat.
Fix the midfield and the rest will hopefully follow.
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An interesting article on the UI suggesting that we’re not missing Morgan, but instead are lacking pace and need better concentration.
I’m not sure I’d be surprised. I haven’t looked, but I just assumed Saintsweb was a post-nuclear landscape by now.
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He got exposed at the back too many times. Two of the goals came from his side, iirc, and he wasn’t running into the space that Bertrand dominates. My bro reckons he’s too raw, and needs to go out on loan for a season. That’s a bit of a harsh assessment in my view, but he really didn’t have a good game.
Don’t agree with this. I have heard that Foster is a great leader and communicator between the sticks and is one of the reasons for such a great defensive record last season. I think the man does a lot more than you think, with his eye for the game.
I also think the main thing here is to see how we react to this defeat. Not the European game but the next league game. I will not be judging things until 10 games in.
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Must be something about songs and Leeds fans. I seem to remember the Valley Slags performing ‘the legend of the Saint’ at half time at the Dell. That was a special moment, a very special moment indeed! Ha ha ha!
Difficult for me to argue given his record.
It’s just a sense I always have watching him ‘between the sticks’.
To me he looks big, clumsy, immobile and stays on his line too much.
Probably a bit of both, but if he sorts out the defence, he does not get as often,mot show his clumsy side.
Beforehand I was gutted to be missing the first home game of the season (and it’s rare that something can keep me from St. Mary’s), but on this occasion it seems somewhat fortunate…
Thing is, although we’ve had less personnel leaving this Summer the ones that have gone were arguably more influential and less easy to replace. Some seem to have forgotten that the near-instant results last season were tantamount to a miracle. It’ll take longer this time around.
That said, we did only have one point at this stage of 2014-15 too. 
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Just reading the report from the BBC site and noticed the match stats…
Looks like we need to get our shooting going again
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It was an odd game.
I guess the worrying bit was how easily they beat us.
We huffed and puffed, created a couple of chances and then repeated the exact mistake of last weekend - the opposition are more dangerous from our corners than we are!
The only positive I can see on that specific issue is that it’s a simple thing to spot and should be easily addressed…hopefully.
We are not the only ones with problems - if I’d spent as much as Chelsea and Spurs I’d be pretty worried, whereas if I’d not bothered to rebuild like Sunderland, well, then I’d probably be just as worried!..
It was just soooooo depressing.
Due to holidays and everyone still finishing their “European Tours” there were only 4 of us Dubai crew in the Pub for a stupidly early kick off meaning the ambient temperature was about 37C.
I was driving so couldn’t have a beer and they were giving away FREE Cider as a Stella Cidre promotion.
THEN to discover **our ** table had been booked by about 10 Everton fans who were in the pub with no less than Trevor bloody Stephens their old MF… So we have a miserable day and they are having the time of their lives. (Insert obscenities to fit)
For the game, Davis is not a DM. Stop playing him there RK. Davis IS our Tempo creator. He MUST play further forward. with him stuck pushing the ball to the CB’s or Big Vic we ended up with Long & Tadic either being 30+ yards away from the ball OR dropping deep to pick it up then having no out further up the pitch. Everton simply crushed the life out of our Midfield
Yes Romeu made a difference when he came on and we did look improved with Davis back in his best position for us, but the Yellow card negated some of his break up play and they ran through us again.
The MOST depressing aspect for me was late on watching JRod dropping back to help cover Targett just outside our box. He needed to be much more involved up front.
No criticism from me of any of our players. We were set up the best we could manage with the fit personnel we have and we were sueezed out of the game.
Lukakau will probably do bugger all else all season, he just does that to us FFS
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…nonchalantly spawned by Optimus trousers…beta v1.6
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Sourced from The Independent article
Expand article…
Alderweireld was part of the team which sacrificed a two-goal lead on Saturday, with the Belgian giving away a penalty from which Marko Arnautovic scored the first of Stoke’s two goals.
The defender earned his transfer to White Hart Lane last season by consistently impressing while on loan at Southampton, where he often benefited from the presence of Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama.
The Belgian has cited the protection he was given at Southampton, but knows he cannot afford to make mistakes himself.
“At Southampton, Victor Wanyama and Morgan Schneiderlin put good pressure on so [opponents] didn’t have time to put the ball in the box; it makes it easier for defenders,” he said.
"You have to play better because if you don’t play football any more then they can put more pressure on you, get more guys in the box, and it’s very difficult.
"Last season I didn’t make one mistake. I want to prove myself here and so it feels bad for me to make a mistake in my first home game.
“I just wanted to catch the ball and if I stood behind him [Stoke’s Joselu] he couldn’t do anything. It was stupid of me. Maybe if I didn’t give the penalty away it’s different.”
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, who worked with both Schneiderlin and Wanyama while at Southampton, has experimented with Eric Dier, a natural central defender, as his defensive midfielder this season. He is expected to continue to strengthen before the end of the summer transfer window.
…piercingly cast by Optimus trousers…beta v1.6
Alderweireld missing the protection of Morgan and Hey big Victor.
We are too, Toby.
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