Match Of The Day 2 a few late thoughts
Dan Tracey
March 22, 2016
2,237 Views
- As promised an extra article for Match Of The Day 2 – bit late as time got away from me yesterday and I’m full of cold but here’s my thoughts on Sunday’s action
- Tottenham vs Bournemouth I watched in full and you can read about that in more detail here
http://realfootballman.com/2016/03/20/tottenham-vs-bournemouth-a-few-quick-thoughts/
- I expect Martin Skrtel won’t be the most popular man on Merseyside this week after he did his best in helping Liverpool throw away a 2 goal lead away at Southampton
- At half time they were clear in front and the game was almost in danger of being a repeat of the 6-1 scoreline when the two sides faced each other in the Capital One Cup earlier in the season
- Philippe Coutinho finished well from outside the area and Daniel Sturridge strengthened his bid to get a seat on the EURO 2016 England plane
- They even had the ball in the net a 3rd time when Joe Allen thought he scored but it was disallowed after a slight delay once the Asssistant Referee decided that Mamdou Sahko was interfering with play
- But then enter Martin Skrtel – first he gives away a Penalty and picks up a booking and although Simon Mignolet get him and Liverpool out of jail after Sadio Mane’s spot kick that was as good as got for Jurgen Klopp and his trip to the South Coast
- Sadio Mane then made amends and gave Southampton hope as he bought the score back to 2-1
- Then a dramatic turn around with Graziano Pelle levelling with 7 minutes and then Martin Skrtel botched clearance gave Pelle the chance to give Southampton a dramatic turnaround
- Liverpool will ask themselves how they gave away such a comfortable lead, it hasn’t quite killed off their faint Champions League hopes as they have games in hand still but it certainly is a massive dent in those aspirations
- As for Southampton they have strengthened their hopes of Europa League qualification. It’s been quite the turn around of form since Fraser Forster returned to the side. Ronald Koeman will have to hope that his side can continue this momentum for the last 7 matches
- They find themselves behind a trio of clubs who are in the hunt for the final Champions League place with two them facing each other in the Manchester Derby on Sunday
- Marcus Rashford’s goal was the difference he just seems fearless at the moment maybe it was the naivety of youth but he certainly didn’t suffer from stage fright at The Etihad
- It was almost roles reversed as Martin Demichelis was run ragged and had an absolutely torrid time
- I think it was summed up by his backpass to Joe Hart. Hart then had to react to get Demichelis out of trouble and subsequently picked up a calf injury for his troubles – Thanks Martin
- Demichelis was hauled off soon after and it wasn’t just one England International injury it was two as Raheem Sterling also didn’t see the game out and will miss the brace of England friendlies over the next few days
- Chris Smalling had Sergio Aguero in his pocket and a little bit more by the looks of it. He was seemingly lucky not to be shown a Red Card by Michael Oliver after two shirt pulling offences. The first one he got booked for, the second one much to the ire of City Players and Fans alike he didn’t
- I don’t think Michael Oliver had a particularly good game but he is the Premier League’s blue eyed boy when it comes to officials so nothing will come of it
- For Manchester City that’s their title hopes over. You can draw a line under the bottom three and now it’s going to be a fight between City, United and West Ham for that final Champions League place
- A vital win for United, if they lost on Sunday that would have been them done and dusted but now they have closed the gap down to a point and are very much back in the race
- Just when it looks like Louis Van Gaal is ready for the exit door he seemingly goes on a run or gets a key result at just the right time and it’s fair to say he’s done it again
- As for a certain Pep Guardiola who currently resides in Munich he will hoping that Manuel Pellegrini doesn’t leave him with the parting gift of a Europa League campaign next season
- In the final game of Sunday it was the Tyne-Wear Derby and I think the real winners of this game were Norwich
- After Alex Neil’s side won the day before a share of the points was going to do either side any favours in their respective bids to stay up but unfortunately that is exactly what happened
- It wasn’t a classic Tyne Wear Derby but I think that’s because there was too much riding on this one, it was a game that both sides really had to win and it was quite scrappy as a result
- Sunderland will feel like it’s 2 points dropped whereas Newcastle will take some solace from Alexsander Mitrovic’s late equaliser
- Both Sunderland and Newcastle have to win 4 from their last 8 matches and looking at their sides that is going to be quite a big ask. Sunderland have lost 4 points now in the last two matches due to conceding late goals. When you’re at the end of the table the cost is even greater
- For Rafa Benitez there’s no real risk for him, he’ll be off if his Newcastle side go down. You wonder what message that really shows the players. If he was in for the long haul relegation or not then he may get a bit more commitment from his squad but with him having the escape clause in his contract then maybe players won’t necessarily be prepared to run through brick walls
- Credit to Mike Ashley for spending a lot of money in January, let’s be honest he had to but it looks like this could be a gamble which hasn’t paid off.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Who’s going down for you, Newcastle or Sunderland?
On Sunday’s evidence it might be both