Bailey

Thank God for sanity. I actually think Jags and Distin have improved under Martinez, maybe not Jags pre cruciate but definitely Jags since he recovered. They have a far better understanding of the game in general but they do seem to have periods in a game where they go very much like rabbits in the headlights. They did it under Moyes too, more so Distin strangely, but I thought Distin was actually incredible last season, probably his best season as a professional (albeit I didnt watch him too much in his pre-Pompey days). At the weekend, Jags was especially shakey. Howard inspired no confidence in his back four and you could see that they clearly werent on the same page whatsoever. I thought Stones did really well for 80% of the game, he just went through a phase of some shocking decision making with the ball at his feet and I think it is very harsh to blame him for the goal when Baines, Barry and even Jags made far bigger individual mistakes.

Yeh Mirallas is our most consistent producer. I would say that Pienaar is pretty low assists wise because his final ball/shit is generally crap. The work he does in the build up, generally with Baines, is excellent however.

Must admit I thought he was poor all game and him and Howard were on different wave lengths throughout.

Thank fuck for that! I'm actually amazed by some of the responses! It's not about whose fault it is its about trying to stop a goal. Stones came in to stop the goal because Jags got caught out before making a great challenge. It was just unfortunate that it broke straight to Woods. Some things you can help others you can't. If stones had got the block on after Jags had missed the challenge we would be praising him. In terms of what went wrong in that second half, it was our defensive intensity. First half we stopped them playing. We turned the ball over early, we kept the pressure on and when Leicester did get into our half, we countered quickly and effectively. Second half we gave them time on the ball, we allowed them deep into our half, we didnt hunt in groups like we were before and in turn that meant our attacking intensity dropped too because we weren't winning the ball high up the pitch and catching them out. I don't know whether it's tactic from Martinez or whether the players subconsciously do it. In the end fresh legs wouldn't have made much difference and they didn't unless the player coming on had added intensity which Besic may have done. All in all it was very frustrating and given how good we were in the first half, it makes it even worse.

Are you retarded? Baines had just pressed the winger hence why he was further up the pitch? Coleman was AHEAD and INLINE with Stones and would have been in a 4 had Mirallas been in position. I seriously give up with you. Absolute WUM.

The end.

http://gfycat.com/AjarBriefBobcat You watch that and tell me we were playing 5 or 3 at the back. Coleman is ahead of Stones!

You are aware that a RB can come inside to narrow down the space? When you are defending you play 5 across the back so Baines and Coleman would have also been as deep as the 3 CB's. As I have said, the goal was not down to the system in any way shape or form.

Ironically I thought McGeady was one of the worst! We must be watching different games... as usual!

Yeh we needed to do something to make the ball stick better up front. Because of how the ball broke! FFS... The ball takes a big deflection and the guy IN THE MIDDLE is through so Jags puts in a last ditch challenge and Stones comes inside to cover, Jags makes a great tackle and the ball just breaks to Woods. If Jags doesnt make the block, Stones might of and if he had you would be praising him for a great block and reading the game so well. It was just the rub of the green that meant the ball broke to the free Leicester player. If Stones had been marking him and not come inside and they scored from the first shot we would have been questioning his positional sense and his reading of the game. 3 at the back, 4 at the back, 10 at the back it would have made fuck all difference at that phase of the play.

Stones was covering inside because thats where the threat was before Jags touched it onto Wood. Coleman was much further up the pitch otherwise he should have been marking Wood. I dont see how the goal would be as a result of 3 at the back either. Stones had to come inside, the fault lies on the left hand side of the pitch who allowed the initial run.

I thought he did a lot of donkey work tbh and was probably the most consistent throughout the 90 minutes. He was the one picking the ball up early, he was the one starting our moves and he was also the one doing the dirty work defensively when we lost the ball. I agree about Baines & Pienaar, especially the former. I thought the latter was very good but had no end product.

Thats ridiculous

We didnt play 3 at the back!? Im pretty sure that Seamus was playing ahead of Stones.

Very frustrating. First half we were excellent, second half we looked like we were trying to hang on. When we went behind the players perked up again so I think it was mental rather than conditioning. Hard to pick a MOTM because it was so Jekyll and Hyde but I would probably edge with Barry or Naismith.

Its frustrating that we have picked up again now... We dont look tired anymore, we just got negative.

Unfuckingbelievable... Baines and Barry didnt deal with the initial threat.

5 at the back or with Coleman ahead of Stones?

Just misplaced a pass when Baines had passed him too. Could have resulted in Barry being sent off too.

We definitely need some fresh legs and minds on the pitch. As the game goes on our decision making is getting far worse.

Bobby, subs please!

Stones performance has dropped off a cliff too.

Think Mirallas for Lukaku is a good shout.

Whole team have dropped off this second half and Lukaku has been the worst example.

I always struggled for coverage with them down south. Internet and phone connection. They were cheaper but I spent half my time trying to resend messages! I am with Vodafone now and they are excellent. Quick, good signal and reasonably priced. Although given the comments from more local posters to you, you might wanna check their data coverage on the website!