More confident when weather is good...I always feel bad weather evens things out in the favour of the opposition...as we are, of course, a big club
Copied this from the bbc on facts about us ; Despite their reputation as a neat passing team, statistically they play more long balls per game (an average of 70) than any other side in the Premier League. Their players have been caught offside 63 times this season, more than other side. Adam Lallana has been dispossessed 48 times this campaign, more than any other player in the division, while Jay Rodriguez has lost the ball due to a poor touch. Must say I am suprised by this...
70 Long balls a game? If we had the ball all the time (which we don't) that equals a long ball every 1.2 mins. Are they confusing an accurate cross with what we all think of as a long ball (hopeful punt).
It's under the headline, Match Facts...but if it is written by Lawro I can understand the poor research.
I'm annoyed because I'm feeling really quite confident today. That makes it the worst kind of feeling should we lose...
It does depend on what you class as a long ball. We certainly don't have our centre backs hoof it upfield that often, but sometimes a good diagonal ball can be useful and we hit a lot of early crosses. Also hasn't Lallana won more tackles in the opposition half than any other player? The guy just gets on the ball a lot.
I doubt it's a misprint. According to whoscored we average 431 short passes, 70 long passes, 23 crosses and 2 through balls per game. For comparison West Ham average 293 short passes, 67 long passes, 24 crosses and 1 through ball per game. The number of long passes is probably higher at least partly because we have more possession than most teams. We may well be lower in terms of the percentage of long passes we play. I'm also not sure what their definition of a long pass is.
I think it comes down to a definition of long ball (purely based on length of pass)...I suppose our good possession combined with rapid spraying of passes has produced that stat. The offside stat may be related to our bombing forward style...however I would also expect us to catch the opposition offside a lot as well. The offside stat would be interesting if they only looked at matches involving Saints. I suspect (but don't know) that, in games involving Saints, the opposition will be caught offside more than Saints themselves.
Does long pass include Jack Cork spraying the ball out wide? Stats are a nonsense we know the kind of football Saints play because we watch it every week.
Just read that article.goes on to list negative points about saints,positive points about west brom.the guy must be a west brom fan ...
