West Ham United 1 - 3 Southampton

30/08/2014

15:00

Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Southampton

 Goalscorers: 

1-0 Mark Noble 27'

1-1 Morgan Schneiderlin 45'

1-2 Morgan Schneiderlin 68'

1-3 Graziano Pelle 83'

 Analysis

Well, that was awful.

Positives

Following last week where I really struggled to think of any negatives to write about, it's a real shame that this week there were almost no positives.

I'm really hard pressed to think of something, so I'll accept the wisdom of Whoscored.com, that claim's our main positive was that we stole the ball from the opposition regularly.

The two images below show our attempted tackles (left) and interceptions made (right). This level of robust defensive play was probably the one saving grace on Saturday. Without the defensive work of Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyaté in front of the defence we might well have taken an even heavier beating.

http://epl.squawka.com/west-ham-united-vs-southampton/

Negatives

I could write a book on the negatives from Saturday, but, to be honest, I don't want to spend too much time reliving it.

The main issues for me, were our inability to pass to one another, and our failure to create any chances of worth. We may have a better pool of strikers this season than in recent years, but if the rest of the team fails to serve anything up for them, we will never improve our goalscoring record.

During the game, only two of our players created a chance. Mauro Zárate's tackle that led to Mark Noble's goal, and one Adrián long ball were as good as it got.

In times of creative difficulty for West Ham, we have often seen the side resort to relentless crossing of the ball. On Saturday, we didn't even get that. We attempted 11 crosses throughout the game, and not a single one was met by a team mate.

Key Player

In truth, none of our players performed at all against Southampton. A couple of them were alright, but nobody played anywhere near their best.

So I'm going to talk about Aaron Cresswell. His Squawka performance score had him as our worst player at the weekend, as it did last week too. Personally, I feel that these scores have both been very harsh, and that the new signing has been one of our better performers this season.

On Saturday, he was, like everyone else, not really at the races, but he still put in a decent all round performance. You can see from his heatmap below that the English left back got up and down the flank regularly, putting in a shift in both attack and defence.

In total, Cresswell made 3 interceptions, 7 clearances and 4 blocks, including blocking one shot on goal. So it wasn't a vintage performance from Cresswell, but, for me, his performance stood out compared to the rest of his team mates.

 General Play 

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

(-18) Adrián - Fraser Forster (11)

(-14) Joey O'Brien - Nathaniel Clyne (17)

(4) James Tomkins - Jose Fonte (17)

(4) Winston Reid - Maya Yoshida (14)

(-22) Aaron Cresswell - Ryan Bertrand (1)

(41) Mark Noble - Morgan Schneiderlin (93)

(7) Cheikhou Kouyaté - James Ward-Prowse (32)

(12) Stewart Downing - Shane Long (25)

(14) Mauro Zárate - Steven Davis (22)

(-8) Ricardo Vâz Te - Dusan Tadic (41)

(-8) Carlton Cole - Graziano Pelle (40)

(9) Ravel Morrison - Gaston Ramirez (13)

(-11) Mohamed Diamé - Jack Cork (9)

(3) Enner Valencia -                   

Best Performance

(41) Mark Noble - Morgan Schneiderlin (93)

Worst Performance

(-22) Aaron Cresswell - Ryan Bertrand (1)

41% Possession 60%

315 Passes Attempted 562

Mark Noble 48 Most Attempted 98 Morgan Schneiderlin

77% Passing Accuracy 86%

58% In Opp. Half 78%

Mauro Zárate 93% Best Accuracy (min. 15 passes) 94% Jack Cork

43 Long Balls 59

14% % Long Balls 10%

James Tomkins 11 Most Long Balls (excl. GK) 11 Jose Fonte

Most Frequent Pass Combination

Kouyaté to Downing 10 - 17 Schneiderlin to Davis

 13 Aerial Duels Won 15 

 46% Success 54% 

Carlton Cole 5 Most Won 4 Graziano Pelle

Mark Noble 69 Most Touches 114 Morgan Schneiderlin

 Offensive Play 

4 Attempts on Goal 18

2 On Target 8

1 Off Target 4

1 Blocked 6

50% From Outside the Box 61%

Ricardo Vâz Te 1 Most Shots 4 Morgan Schneiderlin

2 Key Passes 14

Mauro Zárate 1 Most Key Passes 5 Dusan Tadic

11 Crosses 32

Stewart Downing 5 Most Attempted 17 Dusan Tadic

0 Successful Crosses 6

0% Success 19%

                   0 Most Successful 4 Dusan Tadic

12 Take Ons Attempted 12

2 Successful Take Ons 1

17% Success 8%

Mauro Zárate 1 Most Successful Take Ons 1 Dusan Tadic

 Defensive Play 

32 Tackles Attempted 33

19 Successful Tackles 20

59% Success 61%

Cheikhou Kouyaté 7 Most Tackles 6 Morgan Schneiderlin

43 Clearances 27

Winston Reid 11 Most Clearances 7 Nathaniel Clyne

11 Interceptions 9

Aaron Cresswell 3 Most Interceptions 2 Shane Long

6 Shot Blocks 1

Aaron Cresswell 2 Most Shot Blocks 1 Graziano Pelle

 Discipline 

 11 Fouls 13 

Mauro Zárate 3 Most Fouls 3 Graziano Pelle

2 Yellow Cards 1

West Ham United:  Aaron Cresswell Joey O'Brien  

Southampton:  Graziano Pelle   

0 Red Cards 0

West Ham United:     

Southampton:     

 Head to Heads 

Adrián vs Fraser Forster

-8 Squawka Rating 11

3 Goals Conceded 1

4 Saves 1

  

4 Claims 3

4 Successful Claims 3

100% Success 100%

30 Total Distribution 24

19 Accurate 17

63% Success 71%

7 Goal Kicks 4

3 Accurate 2

43% Success 50%

  

2 Throw Outs 4

2 Accurate 4

100% Success 100%

2 Kick from Hand 1

1 Accurate 1

50% Success 100%

  

19 Other 15

13 Accurate 10

68% Success 67%

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0

0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

Carlton Cole 8 Most Passed To 4 Graziano Pelle

Mark Noble 3 Most Passes From 7 Jose Fonte

Winston Reid vs Maya Yoshida

4 Squawka Rating 14

5 Aerial Duels 4

2 Duels Won 3

40% Success 75%

  

1 Tackles Attempted 1

0 Tackles Completed 1

0% Success 100%

  

11 Clearances 2

3 Interceptions 2

1 Blocks 0

0 6yrd Blocks 0

  

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0

0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

  

25 Passes Attempted 51

20 Successful 41

80% Success 80%

  

1 Crosses Attempted 0

0 Successful 0

0% Success 0%

  

0 Key Passes 0

  

1 Attempts on Goal 0

0 On Target 0

0 Goals 0

  

Aaron Cresswell 5 Most Passed To 15 Morgan Schneiderlin

Aaron Cresswell 5 Most Passes From 8 Ryan Bertrand

Mark Noble vs Morgan Schneiderlin

41 Squawka Rating 93

48 Passes Attempted 98

39 Successful 90

81% Success 92%

  

0 Key Passes 1

0 Assists 0

  

1 Attempts on Goal 4

1 On Target 2

1 Goals 2

  

1 Take Ons Attempted 0

1 Take Ons Successful 0

100% Success 0%

  

1 Crosses Attempted 5

0 Successful 1

0% Success 20%

  

4 Tackles Attempted 10

4 Tackles Completed 6

100% Success 60%

  

2 Clearances 2

1 Interceptions 0

0 Blocks 0

0 6yrd Blocks 0

  

0 Errors Leading to Shot 0

0 Errors Leading to Goal 0

  

Aaron Cresswell 7 Most Passed To 17 Steven Davis

Aaron Cresswell 8 Most Passes From 15 Steven Davis

Carlton Cole vs Graziano Pelle

-8 Squawka Rating 40

0 Attempts on Goal 3

0 On Target 3

0 Goals 1

  

24 Touches 29

3 in Penalty Area 7

13% % Penalty Area 24%

0 Key Passes 2

0 Assists 0

  

16 Passes Attempted 33

6 Successful 26

38% Success 79%

  

0 Take Ons 0

0 Successful Take Ons 0

0% Success 0%

  

11 Aerial Duels 9

5 Duels Won 4

45% Success 44%

  

Cheikhou Kouyaté 2 Most Passed To 5 Morgan Schneiderlin

Adrián 8 Most Passes From 7 Dusan Tadic

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