West Ham United vs Southampton

Saturday 30th August 2014

15:00

Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Southampton

Analysis

So this season is already turning out to be a bit of a roller coaster.

A successful summer of transfer dealings was followed up by a disappointing defeat at home to Spurs. The pain of this defeat was then absolved by a wonderful away performance and victory across London at Crystal Palace. Obviously that high was shortlived, as we then managed to shoot ourselves in the foot in the cup against Sheffield United.

Based on how the season has panned out so far, we should probably win at the weekend then?

Key Player

After a summer that saw Southampton hemorrhage their key players to Premier League rivals, it's difficult to pick out who would be classed as the Saints key player these days.

The club dug their heels in to keep hold of the likes of Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodgriguez, key player from recent seasons, but it is a new signing who I believe holds the key to a successful season at St Mary's.

Serbian winger Dusan Tadic joined the club for a fee of around £10.9m from FC Twente earlier this summer in a bid to replace Anfield bound skipper Adam Lallana. It is still the (very) early stages of his Saints career, but it looks as though Tadic will prove to be worth the outlay.

Southampton brought the winger to the Premier League after seeing him create a ridiculous 133 chances in 33 Eredivisie last season, and registering a whopping 14 assists. In his first appearance of last season, the 4-1 away thumping of Feyenoord, Tadic created 10 chances.

Last year, he also attempted 100 take ons (55% success), scored 16 goals, and hit the target with 50% of his 68 shots on goal (see image below).

And it seems that Tadic is settling in well on the south coast. In his 2 Premier League appearances so far, he has created 3 chances - bagging one assist - and is averaging 3 attempted take ons per game.

http://www.squawka.com/players/dusan-tadic/

Tadic also offers a bit of a different approach to the game than Lallana.

Whereas the England midfielder drifts across the front three in almost a free role, Tadic is more of an out and out winger. The heat maps below are taken from Southampton's away games at Liverpool this season and last.

As you can see, Lallana was far more involved in the centre of the park, floating around the field and getting involved wherever he could. Tadic on the other hand, looks to get involved in wide areas, taking on the fullback at every opportunity (are you listening, Joey O'Brien?).

http://epl.squawka.com/liverpool-vs-southampton/21-09-2013/

http://epl.squawka.com/liverpool-vs-southampton/17-08-2014/

Southampton have plenty of dangerous players in their ranks (James Ward-Prowse, Steven Davis, Graziano Pelle), but if West Ham are to get off the mark at home this season, Tadic is a man we will need to keep quiet.

How do you stop Southampton?

Last time out, Southampton laboured to a nil-nil home draw with West Bromwich Albion, despite holding 58% of possession. With the large volume of possession, they were only able to forge out 9 shooting opportunities throughout, hitting the target just twice.

When you look at the way West Brom defended, you can see why. As we've already seen above, wideman Tadic spends most of the game in wide areas, while Steven Davis on the other flank spends his time further in field. West Brom dealt with this perfectly.

As you can see from the average positions chart below, Andre Wisdom (#2), Saido Berahino (18#) and Youssouf Mulumbu (#21) teamed up and defended quite deep on the right hand side to counter the attacking threat of Tadic (#11) and Ryan Bertrand (#21).

On the other flank, however, as Davis (#8) came inside, Sebastien Poconoli (#15) and Chris Brunt (#11) were able to push forward and pen back the attacking thread of Nathaniel Clyne (#2).

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/829529/MatchReport

And this tactic is similar to the one taken by Liverpool the week before. The advancing Tadic and Bertrand meant that Jordan Henderson (#14) sat wide and deep to support right back Javier Manquillo (#19). On the other flank, Davis' wandering infield meant Glen Johnson (#2) and Raheem Sterling (#31) were free to push on and attack the Saints' backline.

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/829516/MatchReport

The approach taken by both Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion shows a glimpse of how West Ham can both keep Southampton quiet, and how to attack them.

Personally, I would be tempted to play Mohamed Diamé at right midfield for this one. His energy and tackling would help to provide a good buffer for Joey O'Brien when dealing with Southampton's strong left side. This would also allow Stewart Downing to move over to the left flank, where he is likely to find more space and spend more time attacking with Aaron Cresswell.

Weaknesses

It seems to me that Southampton have replaced quality with quality this summer.

Whilst Luke Shaw may have a brighter future in the game, Ryan Bertrand is an equally adept fullback for the present. Tadic is a welcome addition in place of Lallana, and Graziano Pelle looks to be a fine replacement for Rickie Lambert.

The one area that Southampton have not strengthened though, is at centre half. Although Dejan Lovren left for more than £20m to head to Liverpool, Southampton have replaced him with last seasons shaky looking backup Maya Yoshida.

The Japanese international is a decent defender, but is nowhere near the quality of Lovren, and his partnership with Jose Fonte has never looked convincing.

Yoshida has actually started the season very well, making 1 block, 6 interceptions and 7 clearances in 2 games, as well as winning 2 out of 2 aerial duels and 6 out of 9 attempted tackles. However, over the last couple of seasons Yoshida has been a liability at the back. In his 40 Premier League appearances over the last two seasons, Yoshida has made 5 defensive errors, to leading directly to goals.

There is no particular area that Yoshida is poor, but his overall game is less developed than Lovren, and he stands out as the weakest link in a strong Southampton side. West Ham should look to attack the centre backs by running at them, and delivering testing balls into the box from the wide areas. Mauro Zárate should provide a real test for the likes of Yoshida, and hopefully the Argentine will have the beating of him.

 Head to Head 

43% Head to Head Win % 29%

63 Won 42

40 Drawn 40

42 Lost 63

251 Goals Scored 203

203 Goals Conceded 251

 Recent Form (excl. Friendlies) 

L W L L W L Last 6 W W D L D W

6 Goals Scored 7

8 Goals Conceded 3

  

L L L W L L Home/Away Form L L D W L W

4 Goals Scored 7

7 Goals Conceded 9

  

 Form Player (excl. GK) 

 (Last 6 League) 

Stewart Downing - Nathaniel Clyne

6 Appearances 6

504 Minutes Played 540

  

180 Sum Squawka Performance Score 207

30 Average Squawka Performance Rating 35

  

193 Passes Attempted 302

156 Completed 257

81% Success Rate 85%

  

19 Chances Created 10

0 Assists 0

  

6 Attempts on Goal 1

4 On Target 1

2 Goals 1

15 Take Ons Attempted 6

5 Successful Take Ons 4

33% Success Rate 67%

  

8 Tackles Made 25

1 Successful Tackles 15

13% Success Rate 60%

  

3 Interceptions 9

11 Clearances 18

0 Blocks 3

2 Defensive Actions Per Game 5

  

2 Aerial Duels 5

2 Won 2

100% Success Rate 40%

0 Defensive Errors 0

0 Leading to a Goal 0

  

 Last Meeting 

22 February 2014

0-1 Maya Yoshida 8'

1-1 Matt Jarvis 20'

2-1 Carlton Cole 23'

3-1 Kevin Nolan 71'

4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1

Adrián - Artur Boruc

Guy Demel - Calum Chambers

James Collins - Jose Fonte

James Tomkins - Maya Yoshida

George McCartney - Luke Shaw

Mark Noble - Morgan Schneirderlin

Matthew Taylor - Jack Cork (63')

Stewart Downing - Adam Lallana

(73') Kevin Nolan - Steven Davis (78')

(57') Matt Jarvis - Jay Rodriguez

Carlton Cole - Rickie Lambert (78')

 Subs 

Jussi Jääskeläinen - Kelvin Davis

(73') Winston Reid - Dejan Lovren

Pablo Armero - Nathaniel Clyne

Jack Collison - James Ward-Prowse (78')

(57') Mohamed Diamé - Gaston Ramirez (63')

Antonio Nocerino - Guly do Prodo

Joe Cole - Sam Gallagher (78')

 Absentees 

 Injured/Doubtful 

West Ham United: James Collins, Carl Jenkinson, Kevin Nolan, Matt Jarvis, Andy Carroll

Southampton: Jay Rodriguez, Sam Gallagher

 Suspensions 

West Ham United: 

Southampton: 

  Opposition Last Time Out (League)

vs West Bromwich Albion

 Goals Scored: 0

 Goals Conceded: 0

 Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1

  Fraser Forster

  Nathaniel Clyne  Jose Fonte  Maya Yoshida  Ryan Bertrand

  Morgan Schneiderlin  Victor Wanyama

  Steven Davis (45')  James Ward-Prowse (78')  Dusan Tadic

  Graziano Pelle

 subs:

Kelvin Davis

  Florin Gardos

  Jos Hooiveld

  Saphir Taider

  Jack Cork (78')

  Lloyd Isgrove

  Shane Long (45')

  

 Best Player: Fraser Forster(SR: 69)

 Worst Player: Graziano Pelle(SR: -14)

  

 Top 5's (Last Season) 

 Goals Scored 

Kevin Nolan 7 - 15 Jay Rodriguez

Carlton Cole 6 - 13 Rickie Lambert

Mohamed Diamé 4 - 9 Adam Lallana

Joe Cole 3 - 3 Jose Fonte

Ravel Morrison 3 - 3 Dani Osvaldo

 Assists 

Kevin Nolan 5 - 10 Rickie Lambert

Andy Carroll 4 - 7 Steven Davis

Mark Noble 4 - 5 Adam Lallana

Matt Jarvis 3 - 4 Nathaniel Clyne

Stewart Downing 2 - 3 Jay Rodriguez

 Passing Accuracy 

Ravel Morrison 86.4% - 89.3% Morgan Schneiderlin

Mark Noble 82.8% - 87.3% James Ward-Prowse

Jack Collison 81.3% - 86% Jack Cork

Stewart Downing 80.6% - 84.6% Adam Lallana

Joey O'Brien 79.5% - 84.5% Steven Davis

 Chances Created per game 

Stewart Downing 1.9 - 1.9 Adam Lallana

Mark Noble 1.5 - 1.7 Steven Davis

Andy Carroll 1 - 1.4 Rickie Lambert

Kevin Nolan 0.9 - 1.1 Nathaniel Clyne

Matt Jarvis 0.9 - 1.1 James Ward-Prowse

 Successful Dribbles per game 

Ravel Morrison 2.1 - 1.8 Adam Lallana

Mohamed Diamé 2.1 - 1.6 Luke Shaw

Stewart Downing 1.1 - 1.2 Jay Rodriguez

Guy Demel 1 - 0.9 Gaston Ramirez

Mark Noble 0.9 - 0.8 Dani Osvaldo

 Tackles per game 

Mark Noble 2.9 - 3.4 Morgan Schneiderlin

Mohamed Diamé 2.1 - 2.3 Jack Cork

Matthew Taylor 2 - 2.2 Nathaniel Clyne

James Collins 1.8 - 2.1 Luke Shaw

Kevin Nolan 1.8 - 2 Dejan Lovren

 Aerial Duels Won per game 

Andy Carroll 8.9 - 3.5 Maya Yoshida

Modibo Maïga 5.9 - 3.3 Dejan Lovren

James Tomkins 4 - 2.4 Jose Fonte

James Collins 3.5 - 2.3 Victor Wanyama

Carlton Cole 2.2 - 1.9 Calum Chambers

 Manager 

Sam Allardyce - Ronald Koeman

 Current Club 

39.7% Win % 33.3%

56 Won 1

32 Drawn 1

53 Lost 1

  

0 League Titles 0

0 Cup Wins 0

  

01/06/2011 Appointed 16/06/2014

3y 90d Time in Charge 75d

  

 Managerial Career 

39.7% Win % 55.7%

350 Won 288

231 Drawn 111

300 Lost 118

7 Sides Managed 8

2 League Titles 3

0 Cup Wins 5

  

Preston North End First Managerial Role Vitesse Arnham

30/09/1992 Start Date 01/01/2000

21y 333d Experience 14y 241d

West Ham United vs Southampton

Saturday 22nd February 2014

15:00

Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Southampton

Analysis

Over the past few years, we've developed something of a friendly rivalry with Southampton. Challenging for promotion from the Championship together, getting promotion at the same time, both having relatively successful first seasons, and a lot of good games between the sides.

This year, we have had very different seasons to date. West Ham have struggled with injury and a loss of form, and have become embroiled in a relegation battle. The Saints have had the core of their squad available for most of the season, have reached new heights with their form, and appeared to be challenging for a European spot for a time.

The core of Southampton's success this season has been built around a high energy, aggressive and attacking game. At the heart of this are the attacking trio of Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez.

The England internationals have scored a total of 25 Premier League games between them so far, and have terrorised defensive up and down the country with their link up play and relentless pressing.

It isn't so much the goals that the trio bring to the table (although each have an impressive return so far), but the team work, awareness and selflessness that has make them such a success this season. 44% of the goals they have scored this season have actually been assisted by one of the other two, as shown in the table below.

50% of Rickie Lambert's 8 Premier League goals have been assisted by either Rodriguez or Lallana; 40% of Jay Rodriguez 10 goals have been assisted by Lambert or Lallana; and 43% of Lallana's 7 goals have been assisted Rodriguez or Lambert.

What makes the threesome so difficult to deal with is the roaming licence that manager Mauricio Pochettino has afforded them. For most sides, a 'Front 3' tends to be two wingers and a striker. For Southampton, the 'Front 3' is just that.

Look at their average positions from the last three Premier League games. Lallana (#20) is technically the right winger, Lambert (#7) is the centre forward, and Rodriguez (#9) is the left winger. What you'll notice, is that all three players are positioned very closely together in the middle of the pitch, as the furthest forward Southampton players.

This flexibility often leaves a centre back pairing outnumbered, causing opposition fullbacks to tuck inside out of position, and thus allowing the Southampton fullbacks to bomb forward and overload the attack.

http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/18

And just to further illustrate the point of how difficult it is to keep the forwards quiet, here are their heat maps from the Hull game.

All three feature all over the pitch, rarely sticking to their official positions.

Southampton are more than just Lambert, Lallana and Rodiguez though.

A key element to their play is the adventurous style of their fullbacks. Luke Shaw has had such a good season that the 18 year old is being touted as a potential World Cup squad member for England, while Nathaniel Clyne has also managed to impress throughout the season, despite battling newcomer Calum Chambers for the right back spot.

Clyne is expected to start tomorrow, and will give West Ham a lot to think about down the right flank. The former Crystal Palace fullback has won a mightily impressive 64% his his tackles this season (29/45), been successful with 16 of his 31 take ons, and has even managed to rack up four assists in his 17 appearances.

On the opposite flank, Shaw has won 58% of his tackles (36/62), completed 29 of his 55 take ons, and (unlike Clyne) has held his own aerially, winning 51% of his 78 headed duels.

But what has really caught the eye about both young Englishmen is their desire to get forward and support the attack.

The following heat maps show just how much the Saints defenders attack. First is Clyne's heat map from the 4-1 home victory over Hull City in November. As you can see, he spent the majority of the game camped in the right wing position, allowing for Adam Lallana to drift inside and support Lambert in attack.

Similarly, the second heat map show's Luke Shaw's performance against Crystal Palace back at the end of September. Like Clyne, Shaw frequented the opposition half with throughout the game, affording Jay Rodriguez the licence to get inside and join Lallana and Lambert in the attacking triumvirate outlined above.

http://epl.squawka.com/southampton-vs-hull-city/

http://epl.squawka.com/southampton-vs-crystal-palace/

Southampton are a very, very good side. They are offensively potent, defensively strong, and have a work ethic and style that is the envy of the Premier League's mid table.

We will do very well to get anything from this game, but, who knows?, maybe 'Adrián's Wall' can shut out the Saints...

 Head to Head 

43% Head to Head Win % 29%

62 Won 42

40 Drawn 40

42 Lost 62

248 Goals Scored 202

202 Goals Conceded 248

 Recent Form 

L L D W W W Last 6 W D W D W L

7 Goals Scored 10

6 Goals Conceded 5

  

L D L L W W Home/Away Form W L D W W L

9 Goals Scored 10

12 Goals Conceded 5

  

 Form Player (excl. GK) 

 (Last 6 League) 

James Collins - Jose Fonte

5 Appearances 6

450 Minutes Played 540

  

166 Sum Squawka Performance Score 309

33 Average Squawka Performance Rating 52

  

104 Passes Attempted 324

65 Completed 261

63% Success Rate 81%

  

0 Chances Created 2

0 Assists 0

  

3 Attempts on Goal 5

1 On Target 5

1 Goals 2

0 Take Ons Attempted 2

0 Successful Take Ons 2

0% Success Rate 100%

  

10 Tackles Made 16

8 Successful Tackles 9

80% Success Rate 56%

  

5 Interceptions 18

72 Clearances 63

5 Blocks 3

16 Defensive Actions Per Game 14

  

30 Aerial Duels 24

16 Won 16

53% Success Rate 67%

0 Defensive Errors 0

0 Leading to a Goal 0

  

 Last Meeting 

15 September 2013

    

4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-4-2

Jussi Jääskeläinen - Artur Boruc

(61') Guy Demel - Nathaniel Clyne

James Collins - Dejan Lovren

Winston Reid - José Fonte

Joey O'Brien - Luke Shaw (77')

Mark Noble - Adam Lallana (72')

(77') Ravel Morrison - Morgan Schneiderlin

Mohamed Diamé - Victor Wanyama

Kevin Nolan - Jay Rodriguez

Matt Jarvis - Pablo Osvaldo

(68') Modibo Maiga - Rickie Lambert

 Subs 

Adrián - Kelvin Davis

James Tomkins - Calum Chambers (77')

(61') Rǎzvan Raţ - Jos Hooiveld

Jack Collison - Steven Davis

(77') Matthew Taylor - Gaston Ramirez

(68') Ricardo Vâz Te - James Ward-Prowse (72')

Elliot Lee - Guly do Prado

 Absentees 

 Injured/Doubtful 

West Ham United: Joey O'Brien, Ricardo Vâz Te

Southampton: Dejan Lovren, Gaston Ramirez

 Suspensions 

West Ham United: Andy Carroll

Southampton: n/a

  Opposition Last Time Out (League)

vs Sunderland

 Goals Scored: 1

 Goals Conceded: 0

 Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1

  Artur Boruc

  Calum Chambers  Jose Fonte  Maya Yoshida  Luke Shaw

  Jack Cork  Morgan Schneiderlin

  Adam Lallana (88')  Steven Davis (90')  Jay Rodriguez

  Rickie Lambert (77')

 subs:

Kelvin Davis

  Nathaniel Clyne

  Jos Hooiveld

  Lloyd Isgrove

  Victor Wanyama (90')

  James Ward-Prowse (88')

  Guly do Prado (77')

  

 Best Player: Artur Boruc

 Squawka Rating: 71

 Worst Player: Morgan Schneiderlin

 Squawka Rating: -10

  

 Top 5's (Min 5 Apps) 

 Goals Scored 

Kevin Nolan 6 - 10 Jay Rodriguez

Carlton Cole 5 - 8 Rickie Lambert

Joe Cole 3 - 7 Adam Lallana

Ravel Morrison 3 - 3 Jose Fonte

Mohamed Diamé 3 - 2 Dejan Lovren

 Assists 

Kevin Nolan 4 - 7 Rickie Lambert

Andy Carroll 3 - 5 Adam Lallana

Matt Jarvis 3 - 4 Nathaniel Clyne

Ravel Morrison 2 - 4 Steven Davis

Stewart Downing 2 - 3 Jay Rodriguez

 Passing Accuracy 

Ravel Morrison 86% - 89% Morgan Schneiderlin

Mark Noble 83% - 87% James Ward-Prowse

Stewart Downing 82% - 86% Jack Cork

Jack Collison 81% - 84% Steven Davis

Joe Cole 80% - 83% Guly do Prado

 Chances Created per game 

Stewart Downing 1.9 - 1.7 Steven Davis

Mark Noble 1.6 - 1.5 Adam Lallana

Matt Jarvis 1.1 - 1.3 Rickie Lambert

Kevin Nolan 0.9 - 1.3 James Ward-Prowse

Ravel Morrison 0.7 - 1 Morgan Schneiderlin

 Successful Dribbles per game 

Ravel Morrison 2.1 - 1.9 Adam Lallana

Mohamed Diamé 2 - 1.3 Luke Shaw

Mark Noble 1.3 - 1.2 Jay Rodriguez

Stewart Downing 0.9 - 0.9 Nathaniel Clyne

Guy Demel 0.8 - 0.9 Calum Chambers

 Tackles per game 

Mark Noble 2.7 - 4 Morgan Schneiderlin

Mohamed Diamé 2.3 - 2.9 Victor Wanyama

Kevin Nolan 2.3 - 2.4 Jack Cork

James Collins 1.9 - 2.4 Calum Chambers

Winston Reid 1.7 - 2.1 Dejan Lovren

 Aerial Duels Won per game 

James Tomkins 4.3 - 3.6 Maya Yoshida

James Collins 3.6 - 3.4 Dejan Lovren

Winston Reid 2.8 - 2.6 Jose Fonte

Carlton Cole 2.5 - 2.2 Victor Wanyama

George McCartney 1.7 - 1.9 Calum Chambers

 Manager 

Sam Allardyce - Mauricio Pochettino

41.1% Current Club Win % 37.5%

51 Won 18

32 Drawn 16

41 Lost 14

  

39.9% Managerial Career Win % 32.9%

345 Won 53

231 Drawn 38

288 Lost 70

2 League Titles 0

0 Cup Wins 0