Saints v LU 12.30 30/09/2023 | Leeds United Forum

Saints v LU 12.30 30/09/2023 Sept 26, 2023 12:52:28 GMT

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Post by weasel on Sept 26, 2023 12:52:28 GMT

We travel to Southampton for an early kick off in a match between two teams who's form has changed in recent weeks. Southampton started the season on fire with 3 wins and a draw from their first four matches. During that period they did lose 3-1 to GIllingham in the League Cup but it's hard to judge that as to whether they took it serious or not. The results looked good but even then there were perhaps some clues as to why their form may take a nose dive. They needed an 87th minute winner to beat Sheffield Wednesday, a 97th minute penalty equaliser to draw 4-4 with Norwich and a 94th minute winner to beat Plymouth. So whilst the results were good they could easily have picked up less points. September though has been horrible for Southampton. It started with a 5-0 loss to Sunderland and has also seen them lose to Leicester, Ipswich and Middlesborough. Those results have seen them drop to 15th and some fans have already started to question whether Russell Martin is the right manager for them - a manager that several Leeds fans had at the top of their wishlist.

It is fair to say that Southampton SOuthampton have been hampered by losing their best 2 players. Ward-Prowse seemed to have a hand in most of their goals with his free kicks and set piece deliveries being Southampton's most likely source of getting a goal, without him last season it is likely they would have been relegated a lot earlier than they were. Romeo Lavia seemed their only other star last season with Chelsea snapping him up. Whilst it would be fair to say that Leeds lost far more players I think it would also be fair to say that none of the players we lost were as seemingly crucial as those two were to Southampton. Adams at best was still nowhere near as good as Lavia as shown by Chelsea turning down the chance to sign Adams for far less than they paid for Lavia.

By contrast we started the season slowly with 5 points from our opening 4 matches, 1 win, 2 draws and a loss. September though has been better for Leeds with 8 points from 4 matches and if form is anything to go by the result would seem a formality. Howveer this is the championship and form usually counts for little. The form makes the match even more intriguing as Southampton would be expected to try to put on a show with them being the home team and take the game to us. If they do that you would expect that it would play into Leeds hands with us being good on the counter attack. If Russell Martin decides to try to contain and frustrate us will it see the home fans turn on the team for a perceived lack of ambition? Southampton still have good players, players that can hurt Leeds. Che Adams especially has always seemed to be a pest against us since being linked with a move to us prior to us signing JKA. Leeds will need to be careful and play sensibly. Last Saturday it ended up almost like a carnival atmosphere at Elland Road towards the end of the Watford match. We need to make sure that performance doesn't go to our heads. The championship is no carnival but a hard slog with very few easy points on offer. We need to amke sure we are up for the task, match them for effort and then hope our quality shines through. We don't need an 'after the Lord Mayor's' type of performance.

Play at our best and we should win, drop below that and any team in the championship can beat us and Southampton are certainly a team that have enough decent players to hurt us.

Farke will have some selection headaches. Rodon is back aavilable after his ban. Do Ayling or Gray come back in? I think Farke may be tempted to leave the team as it was but it would be harsh on Rodon.

Saints v LU 12.30 30/09/2023 Sept 30, 2023 17:17:16 GMT

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Post by weasel on Sept 30, 2023 17:17:16 GMT

As expected Farke kept the same side that started the previous match against Watford but with a completely different outcome. It was harsh on Rodon who had been in good form and it looked to be the wrong decision. I'm not blaming Cooper solely but the Struyjk & Rodon combination had looked good and it was fair to say that it might have been better to have them back together. Although we had kept a clean sheet in the previous match Watford hadn't really looked to attack us and even then they should have had a couple of goals late on. Given how this match went I would be tempted to go with Shacks left back on Wednesday (if we don't want to risk Byram playing) Struyk and Rodon in the centre and Ayling on the right. If Byram is selected I would still go with the other 3. I felt we missed Ayling's attacking runs yesterday too and if Cooper is rested then it makes sense to have the vice captian back in. A lot of people make a lot of having 2 same footed players at centreback. I think this became more noticeable when Bielsa basically insisted on it. It isn't though a problem to have 2 same footed players but where it goes wrong is if a player is swapped from one side to another rather than playing the full season on the 'wrong side.' If you are playing on the left of centre then ideally you are wanting to guide your opponent to your left and way from the centre of the goal - if though in the next match you are on the right of centre you don't want to be showing the opponent to your left as you are basically guiding them towards the centre of the pitch making shooting far easier - and especially if you are up against a right footed striker you would be showing him into the centre of the goal and letting him have a shot with his strongr foot. i felt last season Struyjk looked good at left back then when he was switched back to centreback for a game it seemed to f*ck him up when he then went back to left back. Players like to get used to their position especially defenders.

Midfield wise yesterday I think it really showed that we miss someone in midfield who can really orchestrate things. Kamara was steady in possession but seems limited and Ampadu is more the destroyer than the creator. I'd have liked to have seen Gruev come on today with 30 minutes left to see what we have with him. Dan James struggled today with his final ball and I wouldn't be surprised to see Jadon Anthony given a start in midweek. Piroe probably had his worst game for us with heavy touches. Rutter looked lively but once again never looked like scoring.

As for the game yesterday and I was worried we'd have this type of performance. Southampton were obviously buoyed by scoring early, it was poor defending as we left their lad unmarked, VAR might have chalked it our for offside but it would have been very close. Messlier I felt could have done more. The second goal looked to be like a mishit from their lad rather than a clean finish. I had noted earlier that their player that scored, Smallbone, looked like a thug and was a red card waiting to happen. He should have been sent off prior to the goal as after already being booked he committed two fouls after that that were both worthy of a booking.

The third goal was another poor goal to concede. Once again I felt Messlier was beaten too easily and also Struyjk should have been able to clear it. After that we huffed and puffed but in all honesty it wasn't like we were raining shots down on the Southampton goal.

Hopefully we learn a lot from the defeat. We go back to the defence that had started to gel rather than the defence who had a ne asy game against Watford. It could turn into a blessing in disguise if we learn from it. The important thing is how we bounce back and we really need to be taking 6 points from the 2 upcoming home games. Whilst we have to learn from it we also in some ways have to write it off, it was a bad day but sometimes goals in games change the whole game and with Southampton scoring so early it buoyed them and their crowd up. It is fair to say that although we didn't play well Southampton got lucky with the crucial decisions, first goal looking offside and second goal appearing to be a bit of a mishit that found the bottom corner from a player that was lucky to be on the pitch. Southampton shouldn't have been doing as badly as they had in the last few matches and still have some decent players.