When you fall of the horse, you have to get straight back on it again. And that horse was "Harry Kane". And Southampton is how we get past that. Because we were cheated out of a win, albeit in a game we didn't play particularly well in for 50 minutes. But we had the winning goal, and the refs were looking for a way to make a show. And make one they did. So now we get to go away, do better, and see what we get.
Things We Need To Look Out For
Firstly, referees. Who gets to ref our game might be more of a determinant of the final score than anything tactical or technical. If there was any justice, we'd get a ref who calls things a bit more decisively (make that "a LOT more decisively") than Culture Club and his mate. Having said that, even with decisive calls
Secondly, our shots and shots on target have seen a downward trend as the season has gone on, so will have to be ultra-clinical if this continues, otherwise we might have a frustrating afternoon again. Here are the trends so far:
*graphs*
So we're converting at a steady rate, but we're getting less shots on target as time goes on, and this has the potential to limit our goal margins.
Thirdly - given the shambles that was the refereeing errors against Spurs, you have to wonder if the defenders will overcompensate, and maybe cease to go into tackles in dangerous areas, or will let players run by rather than risk any contact. This is the sad curse of bad referees - it changes how teams play to something unrealistic. Hopefully that doesn't happen.
Southampton
They don't have a great defence, conceding 1.46 goals per game, although we're not far off with 1.2. They don't get a lot of shots on target though, with 3.3 shots on target per game, which is good for 1 goal, on average. We're at 6.6, though, so a 2-1 game to us is not to be unexpected. But with our apparently declining shots on target per game trend, it could also be a tense 1-1. Perhaps they get lucky, and the gaping chasm in our defensive midfield for cleared balls gifts them another Wanyama special. On paper, they shouldn't be a huge threat (and we beat them 3-0 earlier in the season at home), but on the field, will we continue our slight downward trend, or will be buck it?
Fatigue
It was quite obvious that we were running on fumes in midfield and attack from the 60th minute onwards against Spurs. There could be many reasons for that, but is it something that we should begin worrying about right now? Or was it a one-off? We concede 58% of our goals in the second half, and 23% of them in the last 15 minutes. Are we as fit as we think we are, as a team? Or has the rotation only had a limited impact on our team-wide fatigue? Are our key players about ready to have a performance drop? Or are we just in a blip?
Outcome
The outcome of the game can come from different areas - we could get clinical again and finish all of our chances, or we could be fresh in the last minutes and hold on for victory. Southampton could be impotent and not threaten us once, or Karius could have the game of his life and drag us to a 1-0 win. Mane could find form and score a hat trick, or Salah could continue his streak and get a brace. Ultimately, it's hard to tell.
, and your contributions to this thread just seem to be to moan at people who are trying to keep the thread on topic, how about having a go at the countless idiots taking it off topic every day?
