Villa got it right against us. There's no point being all elitist about tactics; theirs beat ours. Doesn't really matter how attractive it is.
Result against Villa was as freak as they get. They barely managed to create any goalscoring chances and the few they did create came with ample assistance from our players. I cannot accept their win was result of any superior tactic or gameplan. It was merely pure luck.
Don't you feel that we have a problem against hoofers? We're (generally) much more successful against teams trying to play it through the midfield rather than against teams who simply bypass it by banging it over our heads. Yes, it requires luck but it's a valid (though tedious) tactic. Vin
We created at least three times as many chances. Keeping it tight at the back was to do with the players not the tactics. Delph also scored a freak goal from distance. He hadn't scored for Villa or in the Premier League before that game. You can claim Villa deserved to win as they were so clinical. But they did not have the better tactics. Your logic is basically whoever wins in any game has the better tactics and that the players have no say in the result with how they perform individually
I agree it's a valid tactic and i think it's understandable we should struggle against it considering the way we play. But i was trying to point out that i think the way they played (their tactic) had little to do with the goals they scored. The way we easily and casually gave them opportunites to score - they would score regardless of the way they played, they just had to show up. Though they defended well, i grant that.
Apart from the top sides, the way to beat us is to accept we will probably have the most possession, defend well and take your chances. Some teams will do this by skill and/or luck. I have confidence that we will win most of such games. We need to improve the putting away of chances, but we have been saying this for years...the difference is that you get fewer chances in the PL.
Our chances largely involved pumping the ball into the box for it to be headed out again. Villa purposefully played five at the back in order to give us that problem. They could have played a different shape and gone for possession but they didn't. As Fran says, they accepted we'd have most of the ball, ensured we'd struggle to get it in the box, and planned to take advantage of our high line with quick runners. It worked.
Good luck Southampton, despite all the behind the scenes stuff I still think you have a chance of overtaking Man Utd and getting 7th/8th #abu
Not true. Villa got just about as lucky as you can get in that game, and if Paul Lambert try's to claim his game plan was to hardly touch the ball then I'll eat my hat.
Them: Mannone, Bardsley, Alonso, Ki, Brown, O'Shea (C), Cattermole, Larsson, Johnson, Borini, Altidore.
Having read the press over the last 48 hrs,, I am really surprised at today's team as I thought most of our players were to busy negotiating their moving out of Saints to have time to play today! LOL
