Saints top the tackling league, and are a close 2nd in the interception league. We've shown to be good at winning it back. I think Pochettino's pressing will help this too. Now if we can make sure to retain it well and finish, we'll be laughing. Maybe. Check it out: http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/25...amStatistics/England-Premier-League-2012-2013 It's interesting flicking through the different stats. DTLW
We have been for months, Schneiderlin obviously leads the way as he heads the individual table too, but very much a team effort.
Also, as well as being top tacklers, Saints have had fewest yellow cards given for bad tackles in the premier league.
Despite having a player who is joint-top for number of fouls committed. It's the somewhat unusual, but definitely positive, dichotomy of this team...we're aggressive in the tackle, but pick up very few cards. Mainly because we tend to close players down and joust for the ball rather than opting for full-speed two-footed lunges. Something barely related that I noticed a few days ago, but bears mentioning somewhere: one of the reasons that we were merely third in the Fair Play League as of mid-January, best I can tell, is that we have one of the lowest scores in the PL for the behaviour of our officials. Was Nigel quietly threatening to kill the referees!?
As well as been the leading player in the league for tackles and interceptions he's also the league leader for ground covered. And he's completed more passes than any other Saints player in the opposition half. You might know this, just giving some stats for someone that might not know.
In the FP League we are 4 points clear at the top. Arsenal surprisingly are 2nd then Fulham and Reading a further point back.
So if we get into Europe via the FP league, Poch can turn to Nicola and say i've done what you asked.
It was strange that early in the season, our worst yellow card offences were all for celebrating! At least we are "earning" genuine cautions when a player "takes one for the team" as the saying goes. When Spider was on four, he certainly allowed it to affect his aggression until after the amnesty, and has picked up a few since. I thought Lambos yellow on Saturday was unjustified but there is no appeal against injustice in these cases.
There is difference between hard stats and opinionated based figures, those being awarded by individuals or committees are less valid than the ones that show we committed x number of fouls e.t.c. Hence the difference between the various tables. Opinion based statistics prove that 9 out of ten is 90%, not much else.
