So, once more, we outplay the opposition and, aside from the moral victory, we don't have a great deal to show for it. Indeed, we could have been well and truly mugged if Boruc hadn't saved the pen today. It made me wonder, what was the last game we won but we mugged the opposition? i.e. We didn't deserve to win it in the cold light of day, but we still walked away with all three points. Leeds, last March is my contender. It was a great game and Davis and the defence played like stalwarts, but in all honesty, you can't say that Leeds didn't deserve something from that game!
Aston Villa away, this season. They spurned chance after chance, and we got the three points on one of the most dubious penalties you'll ever see.
I do sometimes whether it's my natural dogmatism as a Saints fan, but I think even looking at it objectively, we've been unlucky this season. I suppose Villa away in Jan was the last time we picked up points we didn't deserve. They did enough to earn a draw against us, even if you don't take into account the injustice of the penalty awarded to us. The only other one I can think of this season is Fulham at home where at 1-2 down, Yoshida put in a horror tackle in the centre of the park, only for us to be inexplicably awarded a free kick (by Clattenburg, it's worth noting) a couple of seconds later, which led to Fonte's injury time equaliser. However, we have dropped a remarkable 27 points from winning positions this season, the highest in the league, and double the average amount. Whether this is an issue of fitness or mental weakness, if Pochettino can sort this particular problem out next season I think we're going to surprise a lot of people
I was thinking earlier today that we have lost points in games we deserved to win, but have gained none that we didn't earn. Forgot the Villa game. We have had no real luck this season...I know you make your own luck, but surely we could win a game with the odd ball in off someone's bum. Perhaps that Boruc save is the turning point...so important not to have lost three on the trot.
Stats from 7 games under Pochettino: Saints Shots 106 (58 On Target), Opposition Shots 52 (31 On Target). Saints Goals 9, Opposition Goals 11. Wins 1, Draws 3, Losses 3. We've actually had 2 or more shots on target than our opponents in all of those games. Frustrating.... Maybe, it'll work better at home to Liverpool/Chelsea as they'll try to play toe to toe with us and leave clearer spaces at the back? Can't help but be disappointed by how many chances we need to create to actually score though..... Lat
The away game to Villa is certainly the one which sticks out the most, but I'd also suggest possibly the home draws against Everton and, notably given today, Norwich. As well as we played in the first half against those two - especially Everton - I thought they both pretty much battered us in the second half's, and on both occassions we were lucky not to ultimately lose.
