Southampton (H) | Post Match Thread

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

I think the problem is fitness issue. Some players are lacking proper preseason .

For some read 'all'.

 

[give it to gordon]

Fern looks done to me, he has had a full summer off, full pre season and already looks old/tired.

What's he going to be like later in the winter months with a lot of minutes in those old legs?

I also got that feeling and it was sad to see. His brain was playing the pass but his legs couldn't.
Hope I am wrong and we get one last season out of him.

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

Fern looks done to me, he has had a full summer off, full pre season and already looks old/tired.

What's he going to be like later in the winter months with a lot of minutes in those old legs?

Im sure he has a valuable role to play in coming on and seeing games out that are won when we have a pile up of fixtures

 

[Keeper!]

Im sure he has a valuable role to play in coming on and seeing games out that are won when we have a pile up of fixtures

I hope your right, but fear Rodri is going to be playing a lot of minutes this season and will be getting very little rest.

 

[argyle]

I hope your right, but fear Rodri is going to be playing a lot of minutes this season and will be getting very little rest.

Txiki and co. masterclass.

 

[OB1]

The whole point of xG, as I understand it, is what the cumulative, historical stats say that we were likely to score given the opportunities we had. So the real judge of how we actually did should be the gap between xG and actual goals, not the xG figure itself.

To give you an analogy I know you'll be familiar with. Say a software comapny believes it has prospective sales of £25m (i.e. where they believe they have a greater than 50% chance of landing the contract) in the pipeline. They might be very happy with that but if they don't turn any of those into firm contracts, they won't have done well.

Yes, and we certainly scored less than we should have yesterday.

I have just watched the TV coverage of the first half and it confirmed the impression that I had at the game: we would have been out of sight by HT on a good day. We had at least 7 really good situations. With a marginal improvement from him or a team mate, Gundo might have scored up to three times in the first 25 or so minutes: two potential 1 v 1's with the keeper and a close range header - those 3 were superior opportunities to anything Southampton managed in the first half.

I'll get to the second half at some point but I'm sure that will confirm that we were worse in it until the cavalry arrived.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Yes, and we certainly scored less than we should have yesterday.

I have just watched the TV coverage of the first half and it confirmed the impression that I had at the game: we would have been out of sight by HT on a good day. We had at least 7 really good situations. With a marginal improvement from him or a team mate, Gundo might have scored up to three times in the first 25 or so minutes: two potential 1 v 1's with the keeper and a close range header - those 3 were superior opportunities to anything Southampton managed in the first half.

I'll get to the second half at some point but I'm sure that will confirm that we were worse in it until the cavalry arrived.

Yep. Gundo might have had a hat-trick in the first half and he's normally so deadly. We had a bad day at the office. Not for the first time and it won't be the last. Pep just wanted us to appreciate him more by reminding us what it was like to watch a Stuart Pearce team.

 

[Roachy]

Yard off and lost second balls too often. Movement off the ball was poor and left ferny isolated.

The person who left ferny isolated was Ilkay. Completely anonymous.

 

[eastmanc]

Im sure he has a valuable role to play in coming on and seeing games out that are won when we have a pile up of fixtures

He played really well when he came on in midweek yesterday he had a stinker.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Counter attacks still have to be stopped, 50-50s still have to be won, turnovers in possession in our favour still need to be exploited before the opposition can re-organise. Being such a one-paced team does us no favours in these aspects of the game. A player can be strong, athletic and quick and can still be poised and clear of thought in executing the right pass at the right time. We can't always expect to have 80% possession in a game.

I don't know what to tell you. I'm not saying I'm for or against it, I'm just saying this is clearly not something we aren't inexplicably lacking, it's a set of tactical decisions made by our coaching team to reduce our one weakness and to avoid getting drawn into games that suit the opposition.