How are Southampton Still Riding High in the Premier League - Nice piece by ESPN

[Saint86]

http://www.espnfc.com/barclays-premier-league/23/blog/post/2113998/english-premier-league-super-southampton-continue-to-impress

 

How are Southampton still riding so high in the Premier League?

 

On a weekend when Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham all dropped points, the Saints won again and have gone marching into second place. Ronald Koeman's Southampton aren't expected to remain in the Champions League places for much longer, but the league table doesn't lie: at this point, only Chelsea have played more effective football.

 

Southampton's narrow 1-0 victory over Stoke on Saturday afternoon wasn't spectacular as their 8-0 thrashing of Sunderland the previous weekend, but it was a fully deserved win nonetheless. They dominated the entire opening period and should have wrapped up the win much earlier and by a bigger score. After half-time there was a troubling lack of control, a reminder that this is a talented, attacking and fearless Southampton side, but one that lacks maturity.

 

One moment shortly before the final whistle summarised the situation nicely. Southampton had a throw-in on the left, deep inside the Stoke half. Left-back Ryan Bertrand ran forward 30 yards to take it. Understandably, Ronald Koeman darted forward from his technical area to urge Bertrand back into position, eager to maintain Southampton's four-man back line. These players have been encouraged to attack relentlessly, but their game management needs some work -- they must learn to shut down games, too.

 

 

Ronald Koeman has built on Mauricio Pochettino's work to create another strong Southampton team.

Not that defending in itself is a problem. Last week's eight-goal thriller, commemorated by Southampton blasting Steps' disgustingly cheesy "5, 6, 7, 8" across St Mary's shortly before kickoff, suggests that Southampton are a relentless attacking unit, but statistically they're equally impressive at the back.

 

Southampton boast the division's best defensive record, having conceded only five goals. Like last season, their defending isn't traditional, last-ditch, scrappy stuff on the edge of the box, but instead proactive, brave positional play based around pressing.

 

This worked excellently on Saturday, with ex-Southampton striker Peter Crouch providing Stoke's main goal-scoring threat. Clearly, when playing against a player with Crouch's skills -- he's 6-foot-7 but lacks pace -- you want to push up, clear the penalty area and ensure he's unable to use his aerial prowess to receive crosses. Southampton play that way naturally; therefore Crouch had just one headed chance from a Geoff Cameron cross and was otherwise limited to hold-up play 40 yards from goal.

 

That is Southampton's secret. Under Mauricio Pochettino, they became accustomed to playing with a high defensive line and pressing in midfield, a theme continued by Koeman -- it is, after all, traditionally a Dutch tactic. Southampton have made more tackles (24 per game) than any other side in the division, which illustrates their work rate. When combined with their goals-against figure, it's clearly a highly successful approach.

 

 

Southampton sit second in the Premier League, but their form shows it to be no fluke.

Since last season, the defence has changed significantly thanks to the departures of Dejan Lovren, Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers, who shared right-back duties with Nathaniel Clyne. Now the defence is less impressive in terms of individuals -- Bertrand doesn't have Shaw's dynamism, Toby Alderweireld isn't as calm as Lovren -- but nevertheless, they work excellently as a unit.

 

The midfield can function either in a "2-1" or a "1-2" format, depending upon the nature of the opposition. Morgan Schneiderlin, Steven Davis and Jack Cork have an excellent understanding, each capable of rotating and covering for one another to surprise the opposition with their forward running.

 

- Palmer: Saints' summer of upheaval only made them stronger

 

This was particularly useful against Stoke, whom Southampton meet again in the Capital One Cup this week. Mark Hughes had fielded a defensive-minded trio of Cameron, Charlie Adam and Steven N'Zonzi, instructing them to man-mark Southampton's trio across the pitch. Cameron stuck to his duties, generally on Davis, while N'Zonzi did a decent job pressuring Schneiderlin. But the interchanging caused Adam problems -- he's not the Premier League's most mobile midfielder -- and Cork often became free.

 

Crucially, too, Southampton overloaded this zone thanks to Dusan Tadic's clever drifts from the right. Having managed four assists versus Sunderland, only the fourth time a player has ever managed that in the Premier League, his positional intelligence was more notable on Saturday. Stoke didn't know how to mark Tadic; sometimes left-back Erik Pieters was dragged out of position, sometimes it was Ryan Shawcross. When he darted inside, Clyne skipped forward on the overlap to retain the width, forcing a reluctant Victor Moses back into a defensive position.

 

Tadic is already Southampton's technical leader, inheriting that role from former skipper Adam Lallana. He's a different type of player -- compared to Lallana he boasts greater acceleration and is excellent at skipping away from opposition challenges. Lallana has a great footballing brain but Tadic boasts a burst, a trick. He loves turning inside then feinting to go outside before skipping inside again to drive an in-swinging cross into the box. He can overcomplicate things and become self-indulgent in possession -- he did take an absurdly poor direct free kick midway through the first half -- but he's proved a superb signing, with only Cesc Fabregas a more prolific chance creator this season.

 

 

One of those players not sold over the summer, Morgan Schneiderlin, is a fine anchor in midfield.

Two other newcomers, Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle, complete the front two. Pelle has received plenty of plaudits but Mane was the match winner against Stoke, converting a rebound after Pelle's shot hit the woodwork. Southampton fans have already started chanting "Sadio Mane" to the tune of Queen's "Radio Gaga," which is certainly preferable to Saturday's pre-match music.

 

In truth, however, Southampton's success story (it's worth remembering they were in League One as recently as 2010-11) isn't really about individuals. It's more about the intelligence and cohesion obvious throughout the club, from the personality of the youngsters they produce, to their approach in the transfer market.

 

This summer could have been a disaster but Southampton have managed to adjust to the loss of so many star players while moving onto the next level. Losing players to bigger clubs has become an occupational hazard for anyone outside the Premier League's elite, but Southampton have shifted onto the next stage of development, in terms of exporting players.

 

Continually developing youngsters before selling them to bigger clubs can be considered the Ajax model, but Southampton's next challenge was developing something reminiscent of the Porto approach: selling stars at high prices and investing the proceeds in the next generation from relatively obscure countries. Mane, for example, was playing in Austria last season. Southampton have improved from last season to this season; they've also made a 32 million-pound profit on transfers.

 

The financial aspect is only a side story, however. Football isn't about the net spend table, but the league table. This time last season they were riding similarly high before a collapse in November, when tougher fixtures proved fatal. Something similar might happen again this time around.

 

Regardless, Southampton have adapted brilliantly to a difficult challenge and have achieved something else impressive: in a sport based around fierce rivalry, in an age when "trolling" opponents is celebrated like never before, Southampton boast an old-fashioned status: the neutral's favourite.

[Beckenham Saint]

Really enjoyed that, well researched and sensibly written. ESPN are fast becoming my favourite go-to place when I want to read about our club!

[Ohio Saint]

http://www.espnfc.com/barclays-premier-league/23/blog/post/2113998/english-premier-league-super-southampton-continue-to-impress

before a collapse in November, when tougher fixtures proved fatal.

 

A decent read, but then....oops!! It was not the tougher fixtures, but the lack of squad depth after injuries in key positions that sank us.

[whelk]

Really enjoyed that, well researched and sensibly written. ESPN are fast becoming my favourite go-to place when I want to read about our club!

 

Assume that was Michael Cox of Zonal Marking? ESPN also have some routing bloggers as well mind.

 

Edit - yes can see it was

[Bad Wolf]

Good read. The only part I disagree with is the bit where it says "Toby Alderweireld isn't as calm as Lovren". I disagree with that strongly, I think Alderweireld is a lot more calm than Lovren

[scorchio21]

Injuries and lack of squad depth did play a part in our fall down the table last season, but it's not incorrect to state that the tougher fixtures around November/December were the reason as that was clearly a major factor.

 

Very good article. Especially interesting was the comparison with the philosophies of Ajax and Porto I thought.

 

I wish he would mention that "5-6-7-8" was only played as background music whilst showing all the goals on the big screens though, the way he makes it seem like it was blasted out as part of the pre-game entertainment is a bit embarrassing.

[angelman]

Good read. The only part I disagree with is the bit where it says "Toby Alderweireld isn't as calm as Lovren". I disagree with that strongly, I think Alderweireld is a lot more calm than Lovren

Yes - that jumped out at me as well. TBH Toby has had very little to do so far, and in the last two games pretty much nothing.

 

A decent read, but then....oops!! It was not the tougher fixtures, but the lack of squad depth after injuries in key positions that sank us.

At least it wasn't "they'll never finish their (ie top 4)" and was more, the games against last years top 6 MIGHT trip us up.

[eelpie]

So against Stoke we field a solid but versatile back four and defend from a versatile front and solid midfield

[Smirking_Saint]

We have been ruthless against opposition we have played, and yes can only put points on the board against those put in front of us but in reality we havn't played anyone with a real pedigree except for liverpool and spurs, of whom, despite battling performances we succumbed to.

 

All that aside though, its been refreshing the way we play, I loved last season under poch but under Koeman we retain much the same pedigree from a defensive unit point of view but added to that is a real flair.

 

As Ive said before, december will be our acid test, but if we reach it with a low injury list and our current high confidence Im sure we will gain enough to hopefully provide tye basis of a top 6 finish

[Saint Without a Halo]

We have been ruthless against opposition we have played, and yes can only put points on the board against those put in front of us but in reality we havn't played anyone with a real pedigree except for liverpool and spurs, of whom, despite battling performances we succumbed to.

 

All that aside though, its been refreshing the way we play, I loved last season under poch but under Koeman we retain much the same pedigree from a defensive unit point of view but added to that is a real flair.

 

 

As Ive said before, december will be our acid test, but if we reach it with a low injury list and our current high confidence Im sure we will gain enough to hopefully provide tye basis of a top 6 finish

 

What about Westham and Swansea away both flying high (higher than Spurs and Liverpool) Spurs are actually bottom half!

[Smirking_Saint]

What about Westham and Swansea away both flying high (higher than Spurs and Liverpool) Spurs are actually bottom half!

 

Yup, very good wins but like us, although flying high none are expected top 6 teams