Article: Saints v Swansea match thread | Southampton FC, Football

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
Onionman said:
I'm always bewildered by the obsession on here with scoring from open play. It's as if set piece goals don't count. Last time I looked they were worth just as much as a sparkling dribble through ten defenders followed by a perfect chip over the goalkeeper.

Also, to get a set piece that can be converted into a goal then, almost by definition, you are putting enough pressure on your opponents to concede free kicks in dangerous places and/or corners. The kind of pressure our pressing style generates leads to mistakes.

For example, the corner we scored from at Liverpool was conceded following two mistakes under heavy pressure starting at a Liverpool throw-in near our penalty area. They were like headless chickens as our players forced them back. To dicount that goal as it was just a set-piece goal is pretty unfair. We WON that goal as the result of pressure throughout the game. Ditto SRL's free kick against Palace. Dani looked like dribbling out of the middle of five CP defenders circling like flies and they had no choice but to foul him od they'd almost certainly have conceded. We won that goal as well.

Vin
Click to expand...

Well said. I think goals from open play are considered more exciting or the hallmark of quality football, hence peoples obsession with it.
 
Lovelocum said:
So if the video was not pornographic how was it offensive? If looking at the female form and saying "that is a thing of beauty" is now offensive then it is a sad reflection on our times. Why are we so prudish about mild nudity? And afraid to say"yes that's attractive"? Its a good job we do though- be the end of the human race if we didn't!
Click to expand...

It's not always about pornography. I have no problem with the odd partial nude posted as a bit of fun (especially if Fonte :)), but too many makes a forum appear to exclude female fans. There are forums that do that...this one is a rare one that doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator.
 
Lovelocum said:
So if the video was not pornographic how was it offensive? If looking at the female form and saying "that is a thing of beauty" is now offensive then it is a sad reflection on our times. Why are we so prudish about mild nudity? And afraid to say"yes that's attractive"? Its a good job we do though- be the end of the human race if we didn't!
Click to expand...

Agree with TSS, but perhaps offensive is not the way to describe it.
This is a football forum and its for discussing as dull as it sounds football and with the best will in the world you can't really say posting pictures of ladies is relevant.

There are millions of places on the Internet where you can appreciate the human form, though your Internet history maybe more compromised.

Happy to hear our champions league ambitions and with the Manchester clubs stumbling under new management who knows even if the reality is more likely to be in line with Laudrups comments.
 
According to someone quite reliable (Knew about Osvaldo/Wanyama deals before the media) over on SaintsWeb, he says that Luke Shaw will not be playing tomorrow. Seems an odd thing to say considering he's been pictured training in the week and MP said that he has recovered from his illness, no?
 
A guy over on Santsweb is saying Shaw to Chelsea in January is a done deal, I don't go on Saintsweb often but no one seemed to be challenging him. I think the poster was View From The Top - is he reliable does anyone know?
 
On_The_Bus said:
A guy over on Santsweb is saying Shaw to Chelsea in January is a done deal, I don't go on Saintsweb often but no one seemed to be challenging him. I think the poster was View From The Top - is he reliable does anyone know?
Click to expand...

I would be absolutely amazed, if it happened it would make a mockery of all Cortese's talk of developing from within, supplying the England team etc. I'm calling bullshit.
 
KingslandSaint said:
According to someone quite reliable (Knew about Osvaldo/Wanyama deals before the media) over on SaintsWeb, he says that Luke Shaw will not be playing tomorrow. Seems an odd thing to say considering he's been pictured training in the week and MP said that he has recovered from his illness, no?
Click to expand...

Balls, just saw it was Thevman, so it looks like he won't play. I really hope we play Chambers and Clyne instead of Fox, he'd get absolutely demolished by Dyer.
 
Onionman said:
I'm always bewildered by the obsession on here with scoring from open play. It's as if set piece goals don't count. Last time I looked they were worth just as much as a sparkling dribble through ten defenders followed by a perfect chip over the goalkeeper.

Also, to get a set piece that can be converted into a goal then, almost by definition, you are putting enough pressure on your opponents to concede free kicks in dangerous places and/or corners. The kind of pressure our pressing style generates leads to mistakes.

For example, the corner we scored from at Liverpool was conceded following two mistakes under heavy pressure starting at a Liverpool throw-in near our penalty area. They were like headless chickens as our players forced them back. To dicount that goal as it was just a set-piece goal is pretty unfair. We WON that goal as the result of pressure throughout the game. Ditto SRL's free kick against Palace. Dani looked like dribbling out of the middle of five CP defenders circling like flies and they had no choice but to foul him od they'd almost certainly have conceded. We won that goal as well.

Vin
Click to expand...

If we were winning games by big margins, the goals all came from set pieces and people were complaining about the lack of goals from open play then you might have something of a point. We're not though. Before Palace last week we'd gone 11 games without scoring more than once and had only got six goals in that time. We've scored a reasonable number from set pieces in that time but not many from open play. That's the obvious area that needs improving.

To add a little more substance, so far this season 80% of our goals have come from set pieces. Now obviously we're early in the season, that figure is something of a freak and will likely change but a football team scoring most of its goals from set pieces is NOT likely to have much success. A quick search found me this link that shows that in 2011-12 (the most recent season I can easily find) only 3 teams scored more than 40% of their goals from set pieces. 2 of the 3 (Bolton and Blackburn) were relegated while Stoke finished 14th and have been perhaps the least enjoyable team to watch in the top division for a few years.

So yeah, goals from open play matter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back