For me, it's not a penalty, it's a blatant dive, but when you commit, it's going to be a penalty, Sadly for us, it meant Howard was replaced, fortunately for us, Martinez clearly hasn't knocked the confidence of young Joel, and one small blip, was followed, by a few excellent saves, however easy they come.
Sadly, today wasn't our day, and you feel that after we rode our luck against Fulham, we'd be outdone by some team at some point. But i thoroughly expected Southampton to be the test, not Sunderland, so credit where credit is due, they looked dangerous at times Sunderland, and once they scored, sat back and made it very tricky for us to play, which was very frustrating. Their defence/midfield set up excellently, and as a resuly we couldn't break through, credit to their goalie who made 4-5 excellent saves, and you did have to question if it was going to be our day, and it wasn't.
Question is, why isn't Barkley starting? For me, the cup should take a back seat this season, and this was the game Martinez should have been resting Ross in. One of the few mistakes Martinez made. That said McCarthy and Barry had their worst games for us today, nothing against us, it was just one of those days, especially with a ref like Probert, who is so fixated on being a 'top' refereee who never misses anything he stops the game every 5 seconds for a foul.
As for the Red Card Incident... Howard should have seen the man, but that said, Osman should know his surroundings, and well if there's a man there, boot it into touch.
Sunday is crucial now, and like last week, when everyone won, and we have to respond, we didn't this week. We could have done with Southampton getting a good battering today, a 3-0 was a disaster.
Now we have to get behind the lads, like mad on Sunday, because they'll need the vocal effort.
