SaintsBarry74

Our possession has dipped to 62%, putting us tied for 2nd with Man City, but just behind Tottenham. On the bright side, though, Jan Bednarek is now leading the Premier League with the highest individual possession. Small wins!

Lots of shot practice

Thankfully this red card came in late so surely a 0-9 is off the table?

We'd be down at least 0-3 with McCarthy and minimum 0-5 with Baz.

Makes sense, he is the player in the PL with the 2nd most touches so far. Also our most important ball player for some reason.

They can’t do anything to us we haven’t already endured, unless you reckon a 0-10 is possible? Doubt it.

It’s basically this that’s padding RM’s possession stats. I get that it’s only been three games, but these early numbers are already in line with last season’s RM-ball pattern, and that was against weaker opposition. Lots of huffing and puffing with little end product to show for it. If we keep up this up, a 0-9 battering is almost guaranteed to be looming around the corner.

GCA per 90 minutes (Goal Creating Actions) gives you an idea of how "dangerous" we are when in possession of the ball. Despite our high possession stats, the reality is that we’re struggling to turn that into real threats - hence, the low GCA numbers.

This post is spot on, and it’s not just the eye test that makes it accurate - the stats back it up too. "It mostly defies logic - why are our least technically gifted players monopolising possession among themselves?" Southampton - Most touches and most possession: 1. Jan Bednarek 2. Jack Stephens 3. Taylor Harwood-Bellis These players are also in the top10 players with most possession in the PL so far this season. Well done. Jan is in fact in 2nd place with 313 touches ahead of Kevin de Bruyne's measly 283 touches. High risk / low reward perfectly explains this next stat, we have the 2nd highest possession% in the league, but we also have the 2nd lowest Goal Creating Chances per 90 min., only Crystal Palace is worse.

Tiki Taka footy innit Okay, last stat: in the Championship last season, we also led in most passes per attempt at goal -- by some margin. How this excessive, error-prone fiddling with the ball will fare in top-tier football is bound to be an excruciating watch for any Saints fan.

So far this season, Spurs have the highest possession at 68.7%, closely followed by RM's Saints at 68%. Third place goes to Man City with only 64.7% (always knew RM was the better manager).

We had the highest possession in the championship last season at 65.5% average, followed by Leicester at 61.6%. Pretty good stats, looking good, not worried.

Will be more fun than when we'll face Man City. I imagine it'll be like Rishi Sunak going in the ring against a prime Mike Tyson.

I know most of you rate RM highly, but personally, all this possession for possession's sake is utter shite.

Footybite or Fawanews for streams

An actual Premier League-level goalkeeper playing for us feels surreal. I can imagine the lads scoring at will against the likes of Baz and Lumely, now they'll get some proper shot training.

Absolutely love this! A GK who's actually worthy of the level we're playing at.

That was truly shocking. He might even be worse than Baz.

Great no2 for when Baz returns.

One is an average goalkeeper, and the other is reminiscent of the outfielder who takes over if your keeper is sent off and you're out of subs.

I'd start him ahead of Bazunu any day of the week.

Thought he did some decent damage control. Could have been a lot worse than just one nil.

62% possession and fuck all to show for it. Peak Martin ball

That’s got to be one of the worst injury records for a goalkeeper?. So if we sign him, we’re looking at McCarthy or Baz starting in at least half our games—basically putting us right back to square one.

Bazunu: Worst shot stopper on PL record in 22/23. Before his injury he was on track to achieve the same 'feat' in the Championship. Clearly not a natural keeper, he played outfield until late in his development, no genuine howlers just consistently poor shot-stopping (i.e. goalkeeping 101). Lumley: Worst shot stopper in the championship 22/23 out of 55 keepers! Generally quite shite, it’s baffling why we signed him. McCarthy: Not been the same since we got arse raped 0-9 against Man United. Average shot stopper, awful on his feet. We actually play really decent footy, why the fuck can't we find a competent goalkeeper?