Southampton vs Leicester City Tactical Analysis - What a Game!

[StriderHiryu]

 

 

What an unbelievable game of football! Red cards, a penalty, a two-goal comeback and a winner with the last kick of the match! I ran around my flat like a kid after Ayew grabbed the winner in a game that I enjoyed massively. But now 24 hours later, can we make sense of the chaos and the carnage? Let's try and find out!

 

 

^ The stats show we produced our highest xG of the season. Yes the game turned on the red card, but we were already at 2.4 xG at the moment the penalty was awarded. I might be on my own with thinking this, but I genuinely think we would have won the game even at 11 v11.

 

 

^ Leicester made one change to the team that beat Bournemouth with El Khanouss coming in for Jordan Ayew.

 

 

^ In my pre-match preview I mentioned how against Leeds, Southampton used a different system and beat them three times, including in the play-off final. In those games they were content to have less possession and try and hit Leeds on transition. Given what a huge game this was for Russell Martin, I thought it might be possible he tried the same thing...

 

 

^ But in fact Southampton went 343 or 541, depending on your view point. Given Ross Stewart was injured, and Tyler Dibling had been a breakout star, this made a lot of sense and allowed them to keep the same gameplan of being a bit more solid and better on transition, but retain their best players. This meant right from the start that Martin threw a spanner in the works. Would Cooper be able to recognise the change and make the neccessary adjustments? Well not in the first half as we all saw. I will say that on paper the decision to start El Khanouss and Buonanotte against a team that was going to sit back should have helped us out. But clearly the system change was not expected.

 

 

^ Southampton started the game very strongly and a big reason why was their obvious aggression. They racked up a lot of yellow cards but also raced into a two goal lead. But this wasn't mindless aggression, this was tactical fouling at it's best, to keep them on top and more importantly to stop Leicester from getting going.

 

 

 

^ Here's a great example from early on in the game. Last season against Maresca, we killed Southampton on transition. Quite simply we waited for Southampton to do something stupid, then robbed them of the ball and raced down the other end to score. So what Russell Martin made sure his team do was to stop that from happening. After Fernandes loses the ball, Manning takes one for the team and cynically brings down Skipp. But the foul did it's job, it stops us in our tracks and keeps them on the front foot.

 

 

^ Another example of Southampton's physicality, but also the special attention given to our wingers. More examples can be found in my video, but Southampton frequently doubled up on our wingers, proving Martin had learnt from last season's encounters.

 

 

^ A star turn for Leicester against this physical approach was Facundo Buonanotte. We are all in love with him, he's got to be one of the best signings any team made this summer! Here you can see that despite being under pressure and despite being dragged back by Walker-Peters, he progresses up the field with the ball and lays it off to Vardy. El Khanouss who is new to the Premier League should try to learn from him, because this was fantastic, and the argentine not for the first time this season, was electric.

 

 

 

^ However, the story of the first half was that Martin out thought Cooper and beat him in the tactical battle. They take the free-kick quickly to catch Buonanotte out of position, exposing the achilles heel in the Cooper system. Because Buonanotte drifts inside, on a fast break, James Justin will be exposed 2v1, meaning Faes has to move out of position. Despite this, it must be said that Okoli was poor in this move, even if overall he had a good game. Yes the ball takes a bit of a nick of Faes, but this exposes the flaws in our raiding full back system but also that we didn't get out of the gates fast enough in this game.

 

 

^ The second goal IMO is even more egregious. Quite simply our team is at sixes and sevens and don't know which of our players need to pick up which of Southampton's. Aribo as the extra man in midfield finds himself totally free, but notice how Dibling and Manning were also free, meaning that the Southampton tactical change totally unlocked the Leicester door. For me this is on the coaching team, so that's Cooper and whoever the defensive coach is. The Southampton change of shape was obvious when the team lineups came in and if not, definitely was after 5 minutes. Better instructions are needed. Aribo as a midfielder should have been picked up either Ndidi or Skipp. Skipp here I feel is poor, neither blocking the passing lane to Aribo or Manning. This possibly led to his withdrawal at half time.

 

 

^ This was our best move of the first half. This is what Cooper's system is supposed to achieve, having the raiding fullback, the drifting 10 and the nominal 10 all combine in triangles to create an opportunity. El Khanouss who grew into the game was desperately unlucky here, and I was impressed with the way he turned with the ball and opened up his body for the shot.

 

 

^ I have been critical of the Cooper system throughout the season. My major issue with it is that it means our fullbacks join the attack, which is nowhere near as dangerous as having two tricky wingers attack the opposition fullbacks. Kristiansen had a good first half, but for all his endeavour, I could find just one cross in the entire half he put in. Is it worth having him in the team when we could start with two wingers instead? Well this game gave us our answer. I want to say again that this is not an issue with the player, it's an issue with the system, and it's why objectively the stats show we don't create much when we play the Cooper system. You'd need someone like Andy Robertson to get it to work. Even Ricardo IMO would not have the stamina to go up and down all the time and would be found out 2v1 and it's the reason why Justin gets exposed time and time again.

 

 

^ Just to prove my point, here are the differences in stats between the two halves. Yes the red card made a difference, but even prior to it, our xG was significantly up. Incredibly despite only having an xG of 0.8, that is actually higher than some enitre matches we've had under Cooper, further underlying my criticism of his system. It's not creative enough.

 

 

^ If Carlsberg did second halves, this was one for the ages!

 

 

^ In every post match analysis post I have made so far this season, I have been critical of the manager's lack of substitutions and for not making them soon enough. But credit must be given where it's due. Cooper went for it, made daring changes and it worked! Some people have suggested that it was the players that bullied him into changing the system, and thay maybe he was facing the sack if the result stood. Perhaps that is the case. But by hook or by crook, changes were made, and eventually those changes swung the game. And I am all for it!

 

 

^ We can see that Cooper's changes made a huge difference, whereas Southampton got progressively worse. I think we see just how strong our squad is comparitively to theirs, but also shows that due to the yellow cards picked up in the first half, Southampton had to make changes. And of course the red card, totally changed the game into attack vs defence.

 

 

^ Winks was the first change, and though by himself he did not change the game much, we can see he demanded the ball and looked to be the key pass instigator. It was noticable after the next change I will talk about how often he demanded the ball from Okoli and was actively orchestrating the attack. In fact to me it seemed like this was the first half of football that Winks seemed to enjoy, and he looked way more like his best from last season.

 

 

^ But the key change we made was the return of Abdul Fatawu. FINALLY, Steve Cooper gave into the fans and played BOTH wingers at the same time. And for me Fatawu was Man of the Match because this change swung the game.

 

 

^ Here is how the team looked after Kristiansen went off. Justin moved to Left centre back (VERY interesting he went on the left by the way, making the recent rumours seem quite believable), we had two box crashers and two wingers. Maybe Ricardo could also have come in, but if we lined up like this against Forest, I would be pretty happy.

 

 

^ Here's a shot some of the lads asked me to make during the game. They wanted to point out the clear attacking 5 and return to the "Enzo system." Two wingers hugging the touchline, a five mat attack, the false 9 and the double pivot. And Leicester looked SO much better as a result of it.

 

 

^ Just before I get to the good stuff, I want to point out the reason why I think Cooper does not like Enzo's system. In the video, I go into it much more detail, but in this situation we see that in the defensive phase, you have Fatawu at right back, and maybe isolated. On paper a winger isn't as good defensively as a full back. However, it should be noted that Enzo solved this by using an inverted fullback, so in this example, the right back would have been Ricardo, who would have moved back from CDM to RB. In this case, Ndidi moved out to right wing, and Fatawu to RB. It should be noted that even in this instance, we deal with the attack and that overall, the threat that 2 wingers give you for me is worth way more than having both Justin and Kristiansen in the team.

 

 

^ Now onto the stuff you clicked on this thread for! Time for the Abdul Fatawu show. What an impact he made. You could audibly hear on TV the fear in the stadium every time he got on the ball. Either inside or out, he was a threat and Southampton not for the first time simply could not handle him. This goal made me smile as it was very reminscent of our best moves last season. Fatawu gets to the byline after being found by Winks, and cuts it back for a box crasher to tap it in. Lovely stuff!

 

 

 

^ Here is the entire sequence for the second goal. So much to love here. First is the outrageous cut inside and shot from Fatawu. I would note that the 5 man attack means Fatawu can hug the touchline and we can isolate him 1v1way more often. But in this case Fatawu is 1v2 and still has the beating of both men! After his shot cannons off the upright, what I love is that we recycle the ball and maintain the attack. Then Mavididi, the other winger, crosses to Fatawu, so that's both wingers combining together. Mavidid doesn't even have to look that much, in this system, he knows the man will be there. And then even though Fatawu doesn't score, Vardy is there to pick up the pieces. It's definitely a penalty and though the red card might be harsh, it is serious foul play. And all of a sudden from two down, we are looking for a winner.

 

 

^ What I loved about our performance was that even though the winner was on, we didn't force things. Those lessons from Maresca last season kept true and we were patient. This is a nice move and though the final pass is a total miskick from Bobby Reid, I could not believe Buonanotte missed given the form he's in!

 

 

^ Did we get lucky against Southampton? Of course we did, but it doesn't take away from an incredible fightback. However, we must say that if we deserved a penalty, then Southampton did too, this is a pretty obvious shirt pull from Ayew to stop Onuachu.

 

 

^ I didn't include Faes almost scoring the OG of the season, but did want to include this brilliant block he made late on. Even though they were down to ten men, Southampton were always going to get one half chance, but Faes stood firm and kept the dream of a winner on.

 

 

^ But there was still room for one more twist in the tale! For me one of the signings of the summer isn't even on the pitch, it's on the sidelines! Norwich scored tons of creative goals from set pieces last season, including against us. And he's made a big difference to us, with us being joint top in terms of goals scored and having only conceded once from a set piece ourselves.

 

 

^ And how's this for a training ground special. The audacity from Winks to even try this in the 98th minute is amazing. The team pushes right up against the touchline to exploit the man-to-man marking from Southampton, leaving TWO men free on the edge of the box. It falls to Ayew who sends the away fans into delerium!

 

 

^ So wow what a game of football! What does it mean? Well if the manager chooses, this could be the turning point. We looked so much better with the system change, that surely he's got to start that way on Friday? I suspect he will drop Mavididi and bring in Fatawu, but it's clear to me the players want them both in the team, along with Winks and possibly Ricardo in the double pivot. No one wants to dislike the manager and he must be given credit for a brilliant turnaround and making the right subs at the right times. Play both wingers, attack the game and the fans will get behind you. Is he humble enough to admit he needs to change it up? I honestly don't know, but I hope that he is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 20 October 2024 by StriderHiryu

[foxfanazer]

3 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

 

What an unbelievable game of football! Red cards, a penalty, a two-goal comeback and a winner with the last kick of the game! I ran around my flat like a kid after Ayew grabbed the winner in a game that I enjoyed massively. But now 24 hours later, can we make sense of the chaos and the carnage? Let's try and find out!

 

 

^ The stats show we produced our highest xG of the season. Yes the gmae turned on the red card, but we were already at 2.4 xG at the moment the penalty was awarded. I might be on my own with thinking this, but I genuinely think we would have won the game even at 11 v11.

 

 

^ Leicester made one change to the team that beat Bournemouth with El Khanouss coming in for Jordan Ayew.

 

 

^ In my pre-match preview I mentioned how against Leeds, Southampton used a different system and beat them three times, including in the play-off final. In those games they were content to have less possession and try and hit Leeds on transition. Given what a huge game this was for Russell Martin, I thought it might be possible he tried the same thing.

 

 

^ In fact Southampton went 343 or 541, depending on your view point. Given Ross Stewart was injured, and Tyler Dibling had been a breakout star, this made a lot of sense and allowed them to keep the same gameplan of being a bit more solid and better on transition, but retain their best players. This meant right from the start that Martin threw a spanner in the works. Would Cooper be able to recognise the change and make the neccessary adjustments? Well not in the first half as we all saw. I will say that on paper the decision to start El Khanouss and Buonanotte against a team that was going to sit back should have helped us out.

 

 

^ Southampton started the game very strongly and a big reason why was their obvious aggression. They racked up a lot of yellow cards but also raced into a two goal lead. But this wasn't mindless aggression, this was tactical fouling at it's best, to keep them on top and more importantly to stop Leicester from getting going.

 

 

 

^ Here's a great example from early on in the game. Last season against Maresca, we killed Southampton on transition. Quite simply we waited for Southampton to do something stupid, then robbed them of the ball and raced down the other end to score. So what Martin made sure his team do was to stop that from happening. After Fernandes loses the ball, Manning takes one for the team and cynically brings down Skipp. But the foul did it's job, it stops us in our tracks and keeps them on the front foot.

 

 

^ Another example of Southampton's physicality, but also the special attention given to our wingers. More examples can be found in my video, but Southampton doubled up on our wingers, proving Martin had learnt from last season's encounters.

 

 

^ A start turn for Leicester against this physical approach was Facundo Buonanotte. We are all in love with him, he's got to be one of the best signings any team made this summer! Here you can see that despite being under pressure and despite being dragged back by Walker-Peters, he progresses up the field with the ball and lays it off to Vardy. El Khanouss who is new to the Premier League should try to learn from him, because this was fantastic, and the argentine not for the first time this season, was a star turn.

 

 

 

^ However, the story of the first half was that Martin out thought Cooper and beat him in the tactical battle. They take the free-kick quickly to catch Buonanotte out of position, exposing the achilles heel in the Cooper system. Because Buonanotte drifts inside, on a fast break, James Justin will be esposed 2v1, meaning Faes has to move out of position. Despite this, it must be said that Okoli was poor in this move, even if overall he had a good game. Yes the ball takes a bit of a nick of Faes, but this exposes the flaws in our raiding full back system but also that we didn't get out of the gates fast enough in this game.

 

 

^ The second goal IMO is even more egregious. Quite simply our team is at sixes and sevens and don't know which of our players need to pick up which of Southampton's. Aribo as the extra man in midfield finds himself totally free, but notice how Dibling and Manning were also free, meaning that the Southampton tactical change totally unlocked the Leicester door. For me this is on the coaching team, so that's Cooper and whoever the defensive coach is. The Southampton change of shape was obvious when the team lineups came in and if not, definitely was after 5 minutes. Better instructions are needed. Aribo as a midfielder should have been picked up either Ndidi or Skipp. Skipp here I feel is poor, neither blocking the passing lane to Aribo or Manning.

 

 

^ This was our best move of the first half. This is what Cooper's system is supposed to achieve, having the raiding fullback, the drifting 10 and the nominal 10 all combine in triangles to create an opportunity. El Khanouss who grew into the game was desperately unlucky here, and I was impressed with the way he turned with the ball and opened up his body for the shot.

 

 

^ I have been critical of the Cooper system throughout the season. My major issue with it is that it means our fullbacks join the attack, which is nowhere near as dangerous as having two tricky wingers attack the opposition fullbacks. Kristiansen had a good first half, but for all his endeavour, I could find just one cross in the entire half he put in. Is it worth having him in the team when we could start with two wingers instead? Well this game gave us our answer. I want to say again that this is not an issue with the player, it's an issue with the system, and it's why objectively the stats show we don't create much when we play the Cooper system.

 

 

^ Just to prove my point, here are the differences in stats between the two halves. Yes the red card made a difference, but even prior to it, our xG was significantly up. Incredibly despite only having an xG of 0.8, that is actually higher than some enitre matches we've had under Cooper, further underlying my criticism of his system.

 

 

^ If Carlsberg did second halves, this was one for the ages!

 

 

^ In every post match analysis post I have made so far this season, I have been critical of the manager's lack of substitutions and for not making them soon enough. But credit must be given where it's due. Cooper went for it, made daring changes and it worked! Some people have suggested that it was the players that bullied him into changing the system, and thay maybe he was facing the sack if the result stood. Perhaps that is the case. But by hook or by crook, changes were made, and eventually those changes swung the game.

 

 

^ We can see that Cooper's changes made a huge difference, whereas Southampton got progressively worse. I think we see just how strong our squad is comparitively to theirs, but also shows that due to the yellow cards picked up in the first half, Southampton had to make changes. And of course the red card, totally changed the game into attack vs defence.

 

 

^ Winks was the first change, and though by himself he did not change the game much, we can see he demanded the ball and looked to be the key pass instigator. It was noticable after the next change I will talk about how often he demanded the ball from Okoli and was actively orchestrating the attack. In fact to me it seemed like this was the first half of football that Winks seemed to enjoy, and he looked way more like his best from last season.

 

 

^ But the key change we made was the return of Abdul Fatawu. FINALLY, Steve Cooper gave into the fans and played BOTH wingers at the same time. And for me Fatawu was Man of the Match because this change swung the game.

 

 

^ Here is how the team looked after Kristiansen went off. Justin moved to Left centre back (VERY interesting he went on the left by the way, making the recent rumours seem quite believable), we had two box crashers and two wingers. Maybe Ricardo could also have come in, but if we lined up like this against Forest, I would be pretty happy.

 

 

^ Here's a shot some of the lads asked me to make during the game. They wanted to point out the clear attacking 5 and return to the "Enzo system." Two wingers hugging the touchline, a five mat attack, the false 9 and the double pivot. And Leicester looked SO much better as a result of it.

 

 

^ Just before I get to the good stuff, I want to point out the reason why I think Cooper does not like Enzo's system. In the video, I go into it much more detail, but in this situation we see that in the defensive phase, you have Fatawu at right back, and maybe isolated. On paper a winger isn't as good defensively as a full back. However, it should be noted that Enzo solved this by using an inverted fullback, so in this example, the right back would have been Ricardo, who would have moved back from CDM to RB. In this case, Ndidi moved out to right wing, and Fatawu to RB. It should be noted that even in this instance, we deal with the attack and that overall, the threat that 2 wingers give you for me is worth way more than having both Justin and Kristiansen in the team.

 

 

^ Now onto the stuff you clicked on this thread for! Time for the Abdul Fatawu show. What an impact he made. You could audibly hear on TV the fear in the stadium every time he got on the ball. Either inside or out, he was a threat and Southampton not for the first time simply could not handle him. This goal made me smile as it was very reminscent of our best moves last season. Fatawu gets to the byline and cuts it back for a box crasher to tap it in. Lovely stuff!

 

 

 

^ Here is the entire sequence for the second goal. So much to love here. First is the outrageous cut inside and shot from Fatawu. I would note that the 5 man attack means Fatawu can hug the touchline and we can isolate him 1v1way more often. But in this case Fatawu is 1v2 and still has the beating of both men! After his shot cannons off the upright, what I love is that we recycle the ball and maintain the attack. Then Mavididi, the other winger, crosses to Fatawu, so that's both wingers combining together. Mavidid doesn't even have to look that much, in this system, he knows the man will be there. And then even though Fatawu doesn't score, Vardy is there to pick up the pieces. It's definitely a penalty and though the red card might be harsh, it is serious foul play. And all of a sudden from two down, we are looking for a winner.

 

 

^ What I loved about our performance was that even though the winner was on, we didn't force things. Those lessons from Maresca last season kept true and we were patient. This is a nice move and though the final pass is a total miskick from Bobby Reid, I could not believe Buonanotte missed given the form he's in!

 

 

^ Did we get lucky against Southampton? Of course we did, but it doesn't take away from an incredible fightback. However, we must say that if we deserved a penalty, then Southampton did too, this is a pretty obvious shirt pull from Ayew to stop Onuachu.

 

 

^ I didn't include Faes almost scoring the OG of the season, but did want to include this brilliant block he made late on. Even though they were down to ten men, Southampton were always going to get one half chance, but Faes stood firm and kept the dream of a winner on.

 

 

^ But there was still room for one more twist in the tale! For me one of the signings of the summer isn't even on the pitch, it's on the sidelines! Norwich scored tons of creative goals from set pieces last season, including against us. And he's made a big difference to us, with us being joint top in terms of goals scored and having only conceded once from a set piece ourselves.

 

 

^ And how's this for a training ground special. The audacity from Winks to even try this in the 98th minute is amazing. The team pushes right up against the touchline to exploit the man-to-man marking from Southampton, leaving TWO men free on the edge of the box. It falls to Ayew who sends the away fans into delerium!

 

 

^ So wow what a game of football! What does it mean? Well if the manager chooses, this could be the turning point. We looked so much better with the system change, that surely he's got to start that way on Friday? I suspect he will drop Mavididi and bring in Fatawu, but it's clear to me the players want them both in the team, along with Winks and possibly Ricardo in the double pivot. No one wants to dislike the manager and he must be given credit for a brilliant turnaround and making the right subs at the right times. Play both wingers, attack the game and the fans will get behind you. Is he humble enough to admit he needs to change it up? I honestly don't know, but I hope that he is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will have a proper read of this later but thanks once again for the effort you go to

[Lionator]

I find it interesting that you pick up on lack of creativity and give good justification as to why that is the case. However, we have scored the 9th most amount of goals in the league. So we are creating chances and we’re creating chances in every game we play. It’s an interesting juxtaposition I guess, because I agree that we lack creativity but the chances and goals were create, defies that objective stat. 
 

Or an exciting interpretation could be, just how good we could be if Cooper just let the shackles off. 

Edited 20 October 2024 by Lionator

[Dahnsouff]

The illustration about the JJ defensive (perceived) errors was very interesting and helps alleviate some of the disdain for him building, it’s a systemic issue, and one you also address by highlighting how Enzo addressed the imbalance.

 

[fox_favourite]

Another great peice there! Love it. Thank you

[fox_favourite]

44 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I find it interesting that you pick up on lack of creativity and give good justification as to why that is the case. However, we have scored the 9th most amount of goals in the league. So we are creating chances and we’re creating chances in every game we play. It’s an interesting juxtaposition I guess, because I agree that we lack creativity but the chances and goals were create, defies that objective stat. 
 

Or an exciting interpretation could be, just how good we could be if Cooper just let the shackles off. 

This is how I feel. We are a better team than some think. We have e played poorly, but kept km scoring. 

 

We are a blip to the norm of promoted clubs. We went down with a easily mid table set of players, we kept a lot and bought premier league players and very talented youngsters. We are not a plucky new promoted side, we are a premier league side that got criminally relegated. We are not Leicester of 14/15. 

Edited 20 October 2024 by fox_favourite

[Paninistickers]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

What I loved about our performance was that even though the winner was on, we didn't force things

That was Winks and Faes. They took over tactically once we smelt blood and urged calm and to get saints retreating. For me it was tremendous matchplay from them both. 

 

Just think the players do stuff in spite of Cooper, not because..

 

But as always,. wonderful analysis. Thanks for the huge effort you put in. 

 

 

[Unabomber]

Winks was a revelation when he came on. Fair play to him you could tell he felt he had a point to prove. 

[fox_favourite]

7 minutes ago, Unabomber said:

Winks was a revelation when he came on. Fair play to him you could tell he felt he had a point to prove. 

Played like a captain. He is also better because Southampton gave him space, when he's under pressure, that's when he seems to struggle 

[Wymsey]

Excellent analysis.

 

Are you a Graphic Designer by trade? 

[StriderHiryu]

50 minutes ago, Lionator said:

I find it interesting that you pick up on lack of creativity and give good justification as to why that is the case. However, we have scored the 9th most amount of goals in the league. So we are creating chances and we’re creating chances in every game we play. It’s an interesting juxtaposition I guess, because I agree that we lack creativity but the chances and goals were create, defies that objective stat. 
 

Or an exciting interpretation could be, just how good we could be if Cooper just let the shackles off. 

Great comment!

 

If you look at the underlying xG, we might have scored the 9th most amount of goals, but we certainly didn't deserve to score that many.

 

 

^ According to the underlying stats, we are the 16th best performing team.

 

 

^ And if you want a really terrifiying stat, we should have conceded the most amount of goals in the league, but because we have a Schmeichel regen in goal, we haven't!

 

Stats don't mean everything though, a lot of this is down to us being defensive and parking the bus when Cooper is negative. So I think it's also fair to say that if he unleashed the shackles a bit, we are a better team than the underlying data suggests.

 

For me the TL;DR is that our squad is better than we maybe give it credit for, but that the manager needs to recognise that fact too. And so far when he has let them go free a bit more, such as against Spurs and Southampton second half, even against Villa after going two down, we have looked much, much better.

[StriderHiryu]

7 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Excellent analysis.

 

Are you a Graphic Designer by trade? 

I am crap at Graphic design, but have been using Canva. As you can probably tell, throughout my career I have had to give a crazy amount of presentations, and I find that making some slides means you can arrange your thoughts and structure a video in a much better way. Many fan channels are good, but they feel all over the place.

 

I'd love it if I could do a high quality video with animations, custom video, etc like the top channels do, but maybe that will happen in about 10 years time!!!

 

 

Edited 20 October 2024 by StriderHiryu

[FoxTimmy2]

Our xGA is genuinely terrifying, we’re getting absolutely peppered in goal. Not sure we can expect Mads to keep up this overperformance. 

[Pita]

Another well presented article l find interesting to read. Thanks for your hard work 

[lcfc_forever]

@StriderHiryu Brilliant analysis as usual!

 

My question is what's the defensive shape if we play how we finished the match yesterday? If we move into a 4-4-2, that means Fatawu at RB which is a risk. 

 

But then we have a far better attacking set up so could mean the defence is under less pressure anyway. 

 

I like your preferred team - that would be my XI as well as think Ndidi has been very good as the box crasher and you get both wingers into the team, but what's the defensive set up for that 3-2-2-3 formation? If 4-4-2, who is the right full back (if Justin is LCB/LB)? 

 

Interestingly, sounds like Winks and Ayew freelanced the move rather than it being something they trained for, but Hughes' impact is still undeniable, especially on offensively. Still think there's more work needed defending them. 

[fox_up_north]

Not enough City paraphernalia in your room. Call yourself a youtuber...tsk

[StriderHiryu]

2 hours ago, lcfc_forever said:

@StriderHiryu Brilliant analysis as usual!

 

My question is what's the defensive shape if we play how we finished the match yesterday? If we move into a 4-4-2, that means Fatawu at RB which is a risk. 

 

But then we have a far better attacking set up so could mean the defence is under less pressure anyway. 

 

I like your preferred team - that would be my XI as well as think Ndidi has been very good as the box crasher and you get both wingers into the team, but what's the defensive set up for that 3-2-2-3 formation? If 4-4-2, who is the right full back (if Justin is LCB/LB)? 

 

Interestingly, sounds like Winks and Ayew freelanced the move rather than it being something they trained for, but Hughes' impact is still undeniable, especially on offensively. Still think there's more work needed defending them. 

That is a great question.

 

The best answer would be to go back to Winks and Ricardo and have Ricardo in the team as the inverted player who moves back to RB when we reach the defensive phase of the game. Ndidi could do it, but do you want to move him back there when his defensive stats are absurd as the ones below? I don't think so, which means you have to have him operating centrally in the team somewhere, meaning he has to be one of the 8's. Maybe you can have Fatawu play there, but as said at the end of the video, you want Fatawu and Mavididi available as soon as we break to hit teams on the transition. You don't want Winks inverting because he's the quarterback that makes the key line breaking passes.

 

However, if Ricardo isn't coming into the team, then I think the player next to Winks is the one that inverts, even if that player is Ndidi. It might not work out, but I would try that approach first. You have to remember that the player in the right back slot is only there in the defensive phase, they move back to the middle as soon as we get back on the ball.

 

 

 

[lcfc_forever]

4 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

That is a great question.

 

The best answer would be to go back to Winks and Ricardo and have Ricardo in the team as the inverted player who moves back to RB when we reach the defensive phase of the game. Ndidi could do it, but do you want to move him back there when his defensive stats are absurd as the ones below? I don't think so, which means you have to have him operating centrally in the team somewhere, meaning he has to be one of the 8's. Maybe you can have Fatawu play there, but as said at the end of the video, you want Fatawu and Mavididi available as soon as we break to hit teams on the transition. You don't want Winks inverting because he's the quarterback that makes the key line breaking passes.

 

However, if Ricardo isn't coming into the team, then I think the player next to Winks is the one that inverts, even if that player is Ndidi. It might not work out, but I would try that approach first. You have to remember that the player in the right back slot is only there in the defensive phase, they move back to the middle as soon as we get back on the ball.

 

 

 

Thanks! Appreciate the detailed response.
 

Ndidi’s attacking stats aren’t too shabby either. So free Ricardo! 

[Jobyfox]

It’s interesting that we’re now advocating a shape that is similar to Maresca’s from last season. When he first came in and there was all this talk about inverted full backs many of us were pretty skeptical whether it would make the best use of Ricardo or Justin’s talents.
 

It started off fantastically, but towards the end of the season there was some evidence that  Maresca had been found out a bit. It was quite frustrating  when he stubbornly refused to change shape or style in games that we were chasing 

 

I believe we should always start a game with a plan, but isn’t the real answer to have some tactical flexibility? Cooper displayed that against Southampton and it changed the game. Prior to that game he’d displayed little of it..
 

I’m happy for Ricardo to come back in and for us to revert back to the inverted full back system, but I have my concerns. It relies on intelligence from the players to change shape in the attacking and defensive transitions. It became quite stale at times last season when teams sat on the likes of Vestergaard and Winks to break the passing lines 

 

Are we intelligent enough to play this style in the PL and is Cooper clever enough to coach it? And, unlike Maresca, would Cooper be able to spot when the system wasn’t working and make the tweaks required? 

[foxfan92]

6 hours ago, fox_favourite said:

This is how I feel. We are a better team than some think. We have e played poorly, but kept km scoring. 

 

We are a blip to the norm of promoted clubs. We went down with a easily mid table set of players, we kept a lot and bought premier league players and very talented youngsters. We are not a plucky new promoted side, we are a premier league side that got criminally relegated. We are not Leicester of 14/15. 

Which is a shame because the following season would be amazing!!!

[foxinsocks]

Dear Deidre,

My wife has started to try out new positions and techniques in the bedroom.  I am worried she may be having an affair.

 

[Crinklyfox]

Thank you for another well thought out analysis.  I look forward to viewing them and have seen every one so far.  I do have a couple of comments/observations.

 

Firstly, I'm an old (retired) engineer and there is an old engineering tenet, which is 'If it works, don't change it'.  SC changed our winning formula, perhaps because he didn't feel that it was suitable for the PL, or perhaps to stamp his own identity on the club, either way Southampton was the first time this season I've seen us revert to the system most of the players appear comfortable to play.  Part of me thinks that the players just naturally reverted to that system once the Fatawu substitution was made rather than being directed to it by SC, I haven't seen any post-match interview where he described a deliberate system change.

 

An interesting point in the video where a throw-in could be seen as causing a disadvantage to the team taking the throw.  I can see the logic but doubt that Christian Fuchs would necessarily agree.

 

I'm getting old and forgetful but I seem to recall a Harry Winks comment that the final corner wasn't a routine they'd practised.  I don't know if he was misleading the interviewer, I'm with you on the observation that it looked very rehearsed, and fortunately effective.

 

Please keep making the videos, they are enhancing my enjoyment of the game and stirring up the old grey cells.

[StriderHiryu]

8 hours ago, Jobyfox said:

It’s interesting that we’re now advocating a shape that is similar to Maresca’s from last season. When he first came in and there was all this talk about inverted full backs many of us were pretty skeptical whether it would make the best use of Ricardo or Justin’s talents.
 

It started off fantastically, but towards the end of the season there was some evidence that  Maresca had been found out a bit. It was quite frustrating  when he stubbornly refused to change shape or style in games that we were chasing 

 

I believe we should always start a game with a plan, but isn’t the real answer to have some tactical flexibility? Cooper displayed that against Southampton and it changed the game. Prior to that game he’d displayed little of it..
 

I’m happy for Ricardo to come back in and for us to revert back to the inverted full back system, but I have my concerns. It relies on intelligence from the players to change shape in the attacking and defensive transitions. It became quite stale at times last season when teams sat on the likes of Vestergaard and Winks to break the passing lines 

 

Are we intelligent enough to play this style in the PL and is Cooper clever enough to coach it? And, unlike Maresca, would Cooper be able to spot when the system wasn’t working and make the tweaks required? 

Last season teams parked the bus against us, and that’s one reason we struggled towards the finish line. Not one team has done that to us yet this time round, which is why the Enzo system will likely work well against most teams. 

[Tom12345]

Thanks very much once again for another great piece of analysis.

 

I like to jump on a few things you said and make a few comments:

 

- You mentioned dropping Kristiansen and having 2 wingers as being much better than the Cooper system given the pros and cons of each. I agree. I also agree with you that having 2 tricky wingers gives us so much more attacking threat compared to having an extra full back roaming forward. Player by player - wingers are naturally more skillful going forward; at the same time, full backs are better defensively but we can mitigate via the system. It is for the same reason (albeit in different ways) why we struggled to score goals in the second part of Rodgers’ rein with him preferring to have more defensively minded players but with less ball skills keeping the ball (still remember us just passing about at the back relying on the likes of Evans and Faes to start attacks? And with Ndidi as the pivot we could hardly get up the pitch despite having plenty of good players on the bench?).

 

- I agree with your comment that we have a much deeper squad compared to Southampton. We have a decent squad and this is why I think we were being too negative and played as if we don’t belong and with a negative mindset. As others have pointed out, what was most pleasing was the fight and spirit the players showed in this game. We were not just content to score. We went to grab the ball from the net after scoring the first two and the players visibly wanted to score more and win. This has been missing for a long time (including last year with Maresca) where we showed no urgency in our play.

 

- As you pointed out with the change of system and us having 5 attacking players, we created so much more. We just looked better and we put Southampton on the backfoot. What I did like about Cooper at the start of his rein was that he was trying to get the long balls back into our game again after years under Maresca and previously Brendan (remember all the passing about from the back to nowhere?). However, I think we can all agree that it was looking like we had no plan in his first 6-6.5 games. We were just hoofing it up and immediately turned over possession. This may have been what has caused some dressing room disgruntle. The worst offenders were Kristiansen (who coincidentally did not go through the Enzo School of Football last year) and Ndidi (we talked about him a lot already and suffice to say that he is a handicap to slick passing football from the back and he weights down on teammates around him - of course he is capable of the occasions good forward pass). When Kristiansen went off and Fatawu came on, we looked very different as you said. But what I want to add is that we played a lot more of the ball by passing around, with purpose! It was a joy to watch. I feel though we still didn’t get it all right (we were lucky this is Southampton and then they were down a player) and yet it remains very important that we search for the right balance as we seem to keep getting this wrong over the years. Despite all the criticisms, Cooper seems to be willing to experiment (at least when he make subs). I hope he is going to be more adventurous than he has been. In this regard, for me, as much it may be unpopular to some, I am still single minded about dropping Ndidi unless, in certain games, we need him to press high and play as a AM (but I rather have better ball players like Bilal there).  

 

- We would be so much better if we have say Ricardo as part of the double pivot together with Winks (as you said) or even Skipp. This means, the question still is, we should drop Ndidi (at least as part of the pivot). Against Southampton and then 10 men, we can tolerate him being there when we are already in attacking mode with 2 wingers. But we could be so much better. And against stronger opposition this will show much more. Imagine we had Ricardo instead of Ndidi. Or even trying it with Bounauette who seems to be quite good with tracking back.  Yes, we will miss out on some of Ndidi’s personal defensive strengths, but as we have been saying for a while, if the whole team can keep the ball and play attacking football better, that is the best form of defense. This is similar to the choice you said you would make about having two tricky wingers and five attacking players up top instead of Cooper’s one roaming full back in place of one of the wingers. We can of course do better with Fatawu than Kristiansen (or Justin for that matter). It is the same with Ndidi - I am concerned Cooper has now consolidated with Ndidi as one of the pivots. Imagine we have Ricardo there with Winks/Skipp instead - they will work well together to help get the ball up without leaving it to Kristiansen or our CBs to hoof it up when Ndidi puts them under pressure (either by passing back or not presenting himself as a passing option and leaving it to Winks/Skipp to do all the work alone). It would be so much better if we can consistently move the ball up with ease and get the ball to our attacking players and play higher up the pitch. I rather that than to constantly turn the ball over and play in our half, just to see Wilf being praised for his defensive tackling (inevitably the whole team plays shxt and we leak goals notwithstanding Wilf’s tackling).

 

- Winks being happier as you say hopefully means Cooper and him have also made up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 21 October 2024 by Tom12345

[davieG]

An Opposition view. - Sounds like a report of us in a few previous games.

 

 

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/63174/

Southampton V Leicester City The Verdict
Monday, 21st Oct 2024 08:55
Well what can be said about this game, it was a game of two halves where the biggest talking point was the referee, but lets also be pragmatic, Leicester played with organisation and passion and looked the better side for most of the game.

This was a game that Saints should have won, 2-0 up at half time, it was surely all about game management in the second half, but the truth was we had none, just as we needed to keep it tight and batten down the hatches, a lack of leadership both on and off the pitch once again cost us dearly.

But it started well, after hitting the bar early on a good run and cross from Ryan Manning found Cameron Archer who fired home to give Saints the lead after only 8 minutes, another fine run down the same wing from Kyle Walker Peters saw Joe Aribo double the lead and although Leicester hit the inside of the post we seemed to be holding firm and were good value for the lead, although the Foxes had shown enough to suggest it would not be an easy second half.

That proved to be the case, Saints stayed strong for 15 minutes of so but then the game swung after Yuri Sugawara went off injured, Kyle Walker Peters switched to right back and within minutes Leicester had marauded down our left side and crossed for the Foxes to halve the deficit.

Now it was truly going to be about game management. but we seemed to lack any both on and off the field, Leicester were now on top and pouring forward, we needed cool heads, but it was Will Smallbone who came on, now I am not a critic of Smallbone, but was he really the man to come and shore things up after being out injured for the last month or so.

The obvious choice here was to bring on Charlie Taylor at left back and switch KWP, square pegs in square holes, but we changed 3 positions in one foul swoop and that broke our rhythm.

The obvious choice would surely have been Adam Lallana, I have heard somewhere that he was injured in the warm up, but this is the 3rd game in a row he has not got off the bench, that is baffling, there seems to be a problem here.

Off went Cameron Archer for Paul Onuauchu, and things did not get better, once again only minutes after a substitution came a goal conceded, we just couldn't seem to get organised and keep the ball and Leicester were rampant, a fine save from Aarron Ramsdale kept the ball out, most thought that we had somehow kept the ball out, VAR showed Ryan Fraser literally had a hand in it, tugging on a shirt and the resulting penalty was tucked away.

Now we were down to 10 men and under the cosh, but somehow we held on till the final minute of 7 added for injuries etc, you all know what happened next.

So where did it all go wrong ? Yes the referee was no help, he was awful, he did not let the game flow and flashed yellow cards for the most innocuous challenges, Ryan Manning was booked in the 6th minute, Matteus Fernades in the 10th and by the 36th, Referee Taylor had another 2 of our men in his book, not one Leicester player had joined them.

Of course the big talking point was the fact that Taylor gave a penalty for Leicester, VAR was more responsible for that and in truth Fraser was guilty as charged, but Saints had a similar appeal turned down with Taylor only yards away and VAR not suggesting he take a look.

But these things happen in football, we should never have been in this position, the game turned on game management, Steve Cooper made the right changes for Leicester and turned the game, we made baffling ones and threw it away.

Russell Martin is suddenly turning to players that have done nothing for the club, it seems like he is desperate, Tall Paul Onuachu and Kamaldeen Sulemana have done nothing for this club in 2 1/2 years, and that didn't look like changing on Saturday.

Just as we needed cool heads on the pitch, these two were brought on by Martin, the big question is why ! I could understand it if we had been in Leicester's position and chasing the game, but we weren't.

On 68 minutes when Onuachu came on we were 2-1 up, we needed experience and work rate, Adam Armstrong would have been the obvious choice here, he will put in a shift and close down to stop build ups, Tall Paul is ok when the ball is near him, but he can't run.

The introduction of Taylor in the 78th minute was about the only logical sub made out of 5 by Martin, when Tyler Dibling came off at the same time, why was it Sulemana who replaced him, a player that was injured in pre season and has not been fit, surely it is obvious that he is not the player to shore things up, nothing against Sulemana, aside from his lack of end product in his entire Saints career, but surely it was about firstly trying to hang on to what we had, batten down the hatches, not have two players on who are yet to make a notable contribution to this football club.

So for me this was what cost us dearly, a total lack of game management, it was just as much about the players who did not get on the pitch, than those that were, no Adam Armstrong, no Adam Lallana, No Lesley Ugochokwu, these three stayed on the bench, when all three were those that could have made a contribution.

Sulemana & Onuauchu have made it quite clear that they don't want to be at the club, how does that make those that do want to play for the club feel, not just those stuck on the bench, but those not in the matchday squad, Ben Brereton Diaz, Sam Amo- Ameyaw, Maxwel Cornet, even these three have better track records, these sort of selection's do not unite squads, they create division and tension and they make players question the manager.

On Saturday Steve Cooper changed the game for Leicester and our manager seemed to be stuck in the headlights and not sure what to do for the best, I would love Russell martin to turn things around, I stuck up for him last season and I did so in the early games of this, but I truly cannot see anything at the moment that makes me feel that he can change things, he is just chopping and changing without any real conviction other than hoping something will work.

That means there is only one solution and that is a change of manager.