I was quite shocked to look back over our results under Pochettino last season. Mainly because things felt good on the whole; better. But just four wins from sixteen games had me questioning why I felt so good about the upcoming season. Clearly, Saints have already strengthened in the break, and will probably add some more great ingredients to the mix. Regardless, I thought I would blitz a few statistics to see if I could unearth any justification for my happy state of mind ( transfers to one side ). What I found was a 'small indicator' that reinforces the positive vibe and perhaps ( in some way ) explains the 'sub-conscious' air of optimism. If the sixteen games under Mauricio had been decided by efforts on goal ( off target or on ), Saints would have won FOURTEEN and lost just two. Just wondered, does anybody have any other statistics to hand ( revelations ), that either support the idea that Saints will be a top 8 side next season, or warrant cause for concern?
Our performances under Pochettino were much better than the results we were getting. If you look at things like possession, shots attempted for and against (especially in comparison to under Adkins) you will see that we should have been getting more points than we did. We needed to improve at converting our chances otherwise we were playing very well.
Agree, New Era! When I cast an eye over last season's table, the points margin between where we finished and the eighth spot isn't too great. The jump to a top six spot is a different story. Can't help thinking a top eight finish has to be a managerial target / expectation for next season. Especially with the new signings!
I don't think we can tell until this season how good Pochettino is as a manager. This season he will have to prove himself.
Yes, OROW. Although, I have to say how impressed I am with how quickly he has implemented his style of play and got everybody at it! Even Mark Lawrenson commented on what a well drilled side Saints were last season. For achieving that alone, he gets a thumbs up from me.
We need to get some Officials and Lady Luck on our side and may be then we will get the results we deserve
It is this last point that worries me. I am happy with the way the team is developing but now our priority has to be to strengthen our attack.
What we need is a Steve Moran type. J Rod and Rickie are both great but aren't really 6 yard box predators.
Agree. We be and a better team, however this is why I think we need a new striker urgently. Jayrod started to look the part, but we need a other striker who can get in behind defences.
Looking at that FA video of JWP banging those volleys in, does anyone think his future might be more as a CAM/poacher type of player, especially now we have strengthened our midfield options?
Hi Chilco, the danger of that video is that it shows good technique under no pressure. Do you remember the Cork video training for England and banging a screamer in? Most professional footballers have good enough technique to ping one in training, but I don't see James or Corkie doing that in a game unfortunately; not on a regular basis anyway. James can play further forward, but it would be to link play up rather than get goals, similar to how Davis was last season.
Spot on, JWP can play the Davis role nearly as well as Davis but has not so far shown enough talent in the final third. For all my criticism of Davis he layed off a great assist to rodriguez and scored 2 handy goals, something JWP will have to start doing. According to http://www.whoscored.com/Players/105172 he actually played quite a lot of passes that lead to shots, I can't recall any incisive through balls or indeed any incisive passes but he must have been getting into reasonable areas, the pass completion is also impressive but I would stress that JWP and Davis keep possession in a way that is best when winning by a few goals, it is too slow and mechanical to trouble good defenders.
Gerd Muller was very similar to Billy Sharp in terms of his athleticism and he didn't do too badly! In fairness, I know what you are saying about Sharp but he still had that uncanny ability to put his foot in and divert the ball into the goal.
Didn't JWP set up Puncheon's equaliser against Sunderland away, if my memory serves me right. I agree he needs to find the net more often but opportunities were very limited last season, lots of cameos not enough starts if any under MP compared to Davis.
