₦airaland Forum

I didn't see game. How well did we do?

SetrakusRa:
DJ, hit me Story for the gods by Olamide

Story for the gods indeed.

DJ abeg find me Ijo Yoyo by Kolington.

They are both rubbish teams in actual fact. But anything that makes me laugh at Arsenal is welcome.

Dhellake:
£65m Ball Crosser

Arsenal 8th going into December. Awesome!

Ibime:
I hope Alexis Sanchez put a release clause in his contract for Champions League clubs to sign him.

That geezer about to waste the prime years of his career at Arsenal

I really hope so.

See this yeye £65m flop. Idiot just throway correct FPL points.

The new microphones from ebay just turned up. One two. . .

raumdeuter:
Thanks jare. You better tell nateevs, unless he can pay his bills from his dreams

Sebi eni to n dunu ni Obey n bawi.

raumdeuter:
Chief Ebenezer obey sang that "Eni rowo he Loju Ala ton ronu, Eni ko tepa MO ise re nitori ebi"

Iwo ni Obey nba wi.

Nihilist:
My dreams are usually of the wet variety.

I'm sure you must be an accountant. Only Nateevs's dreams come replete with detailed financial transactions.

Unfortunately, I am not an Accountant. My Wife is though.
I must say I have been having dreams about money lately. Big Money!

I had a dream last night. In the dream Chelsea sold Oscar to PSG for £40m and sold off Schurlle and Salah to clubs I don't remember. We sold them both for a total £20m and we spent £60m pounds on Koke and Marco Reus and promoted Jeremie Boga. I woke up smiling.

Now I know dreams hardly come true but let's just imagine. . . . .

Ibime:
Abeg who fit give us update on Lucas Piazons progress at Frankfurth. I very much like that kid.

I have not followed him in a long while. I am mostly interested in Betrand Traore. I believe he has what it takes to makes.

Nihilist:
Again you're letting the table deceive you.
While defensively Southampton have be solid so far, you have to remember that most of thier clean sheets have come against clubs who simply don't know where the net is.
It's one thing to keep a cleansheet against Leicester(0 goals scored in the last 5 games) and Hull(0 goals scored in last 3 games) or a dire Newcastle(at the time)
It's another thing to expect that kind of defensive solidity to be on show against the swashbuckling free scoring attackers of City, United, and Arsenal.
Thats exemplified in the fact that So'ton have conceded each time they've met decent attacking opposition this season....West Ham, Spurs, Arsenal and QPR have already breached that backline.
So my Argument is that, if they're not attacking as ruthlessly as the top 4, and only seem to able to keep clean sheets against teams struggling to score anyway, what's the reason for optimism that they can scale through the upcoming fixture list of doom unscathed?
Naah Fam...after this weekend, the party is over for Southampton

The optimism comes from watching a City side who recently almost conceded 4 goals against QPR but only managed two. What happened to their free scoring attackers then? Arsenal against Swansea? United and So'ton first time around?


Look, you may be right. Time will tell.

Nihilist:
When you look at the underlying stats, you'll further understand what I'm saying.

Like I said in the game against Leicester, they actually looked clueless in the final third. Their number 9 hasn't had a single shot on target in his last 3 games!

Attacking wise, Southampton have had fewer attempts on goal(155) than Manyoo(161), City(198), Arsenal(185), Chelsea(164), Liverpool(162), and WestHam(158).

They've created fewer clear cut chances(21) than City(28), Arsenal(28), Chelsea(28), and Spurs(23)

They also creating chances slower(6.7 minutes per chance) than Manyoo(6.5), City(5.3), Arsenal(5.7), Chelsea(6.4), Liverpool(6.5), and WestHam(6.6).


So you can see that the statistics back up my assertion that they are not the attacking Juggernauts the log table would have us believe

Southampton have been attacking like a top half side, maybe even a side that challenging for the Europa spot, but certainly not like a side that can sustain a challenge for the top 4.

I'd like to point out that while So'ton have scored 23 goals so far, 12 of those goals came from only 2 games. They have mostly ground out 1-0 or 2-1 victories so far this season. And these victories have been against defensively suspect sides in the first place

That being said, they have been very very good so far in taking their chances whenever it appears, and defensively they have been solid...but abeg dont believe the hype. Southampton this year are the Everton of last season.

Much of those stats prove little. In the crux of the long Torres debate on here, Coogar and I managed to show stats on how few chances/CCCs Chelsea created and by how fewer they were compared to other teams. In some cases, Chelsea stats were worse than mid-table teams. Yet we still managed to stay at the top end of the table for much of the season.

Why is that? Because you don't stay at the top of the table 'primarily' by the number of goals you score, chances you create or frequency of chances created (See Arsenal). Instead, you stay on top by the number of goals you don't concede. (See Arsenal again). I am not saying scoring is not crucial to top-table finish, I am just saying not conceding is more important and that's what Southampton are doing.

So they grind out 1-0, 2-1 wins. That's consistency. Chelsea won a title doing this. At least they are not falling flat on their faces and conceding 8 a game. See something interesting, they have not conceded more than 1 goal in a single game in the league this season.


So their striker has not had a shot on goal in 3 games. Heck Torres didn't have a shot on goal for ages but we still stayed top of the table. Because we didn't concede many. And this is the stat I aimed to present; not attacking stats.

Take away those 12 goals ou refer to Southampton scoring in 2 games and give them 1-0, 2-1 wins in their places. They will still be 2nd on the table. To put things in perspective, take away the 12 goals and 4 points from those two games, give them draws instead; they will still be 3rd on the table tied with City on points. Despite taking out over of 50% of their goals scored this season.

This proves my point. The only point I have concentrated on - Southampton's defensive work. So you see they are not really up there because of goals scored. (I really do not know why this attacking thing came up in the first place. No one's talked about it)


As I said, they may well just bang their heads and go down hill; I just stay on the side of not seeing it happen. We have seen many sides do this thing before - ride at the top for a long. But rarely from defensive solidity. So no, so far, they are not this season's Everton.

Nihilist:
Football is not mathematics and obviously anybody can beat anybody...but I don't expect Soton to beat the bigger names on that list bar Arsenal(due to Arsenal's penchant to balls up)

Southampton v Leicester in particular showed that So'ton are not the all conquering juggernaut their league position suggests. They looked clueless in the final third, and it was the industry of Shane Long that saved the day with only about 15 minutes to go.

Industry is all well and good against the smaller sides, but is very rarely enough to take on and beat the big boys.

So yes Southampton can beat City, Manyoo, Arsenal, and Chelsea on paper...most people just don't expect them to.

And the under-estimation continues. Especially exemplfied by the "So'ton are not the all conquering juggernaut their league position suggests" . . . What else could they be? The league position does not lie.

My post aimed to bring interesting facts to the fore by focusing on what makes them strong rather than their reputation as a small team. You are wrong that they are not what their league position suggests. Looking at the facts that matter, you realise quickly that apart from being free scoring in attack, they are exceptionally strong in defense. Conceding only 5 goals after 11 games. That's 6 less than Chelsea have conceded and 7 less than City. They have at this moment in time, the best defense in the league.

Look Southampton may well fall apart due to other reasons apart from team strength and ability (e.g squad depth, injuries to key players); what I find funny is that just like important parts of their success are being ignored now, many people will say 'oh we knew they were going to fall apart'.

To the point of expectation, nobody can win here right now. Based on their games I have seen, their organization in defense and the stats to back it up, I expect them to come out of the tight fixtures way better than most people give them credit for. If others don't I cannot force it. Time will tell.

Tval:
24 Nov 21:00 Aston Villa vs Southampton Sky Sports 1/HD, Viasat Fotbo…

30 Nov 14:30 Southampton vs Manchester City Sky Sports 1/HD, Canal+ Sport,

03 Dec 20:45 Arsenal vs Southampton BT Sport 1, NBC Sports Live E…

08 Dec 21:00 Southampton vs Manchester United Sky Sports 1/HD, Sky Go, NOW T…

13 Dec 16:00 Burnley vs Southampton NBC Sports Live Extra, Sky Me…


20 Dec 16:00 Southampton vs Everton NBC Sports Live Extra, Sky Me…

26 Dec 16:00 Crystal Palace vs Southampton NBC Sports Live Extra, Sky Me…

28 Dec 16:00 Southampton vs Chelsea NBC Sports Live Extra, Siriu…



01 Jan 16:00 Southampton vs Arsenal NBC Sports Live Extra, Sky Me…

10 Jan 16:00 Manchester United vs Southampton NBC Sports Live Extra, Sky Me…

I like the underestimation of Southampton going on in here. It's very clear to see that no one here has actually seen a game of theirs. Apart from the Chelsea games(obviously), based on the way I have seen Southampton play, they can win all those games.

Bimfo:
Gareth Bale has turned down an opportunity to
return to the Premier League, rejecting a €185
million (£150m) move to Chelsea.

Thank eledumare..

Liessss! Shey Chelsea that was working on being FFP compliant and registering a heathy profit will go commit themselves to a annual £30m ammortization fee for 5 years?

We are now elite. We have arrived at the zone where we spend shrewdly and still remain competitive. Those things are for City and United.

Hehehe. Sorry Noah, boyz are not friendly here.

Nihilist:
Haha No it's not

Bayern, Dortmund, Wolfsburg and Stuggart have won it in the last 7 seasons

Unlike Manyoo, City, and Chelsea in the same time frame.

If you stretch the time frame to the last 10 years, you will find that there have been 5 different Bundesliga champions compared to EPL's three...

So the EPL is actually far more predictable.

Okay. Let's make a simple exercise.

Did you pick anyone of Stuttgart and Wolfsburg to win the league in the last 3 years? Did you pick any team outside of Bayern and Dortmund to win the league in the last 3 years?

raumdeuter:
Of all the posters you have made a more coherent argument that the others before you.

But I would present some counter to it. In recent times e.g in the last 10yrs results have shown More clubs winning the Bundesliga than in the EPL.

In the last 10yrs, Bremen, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg and Dortmund in addition to Bayern have won. while EPL in the last 10yrs has Arsenal, Chelsea City and Man Utd.

Before the start of this season many analysts have Chelsea winning the league infact all Betting odds favoured Chelsea before the league kicked off(I posted it on this thread), the same way they would have favoured Bayern in the Bundesliga and Juventus in the Serrie A.

Only La Liga can be said to have the level of uncertainty prior to the start of the season and even till now

At the beginning of this season many analysts thought Dortmund with their added depth and Bayern struggles would win the league especially with the way they blew Bayern out in the Supercup but as its turning out right now, Dormund is even struggling to win lower table sides

Despite the counter, the bane of the discussion is about predictabilty. For instance, at certain times last season, one of Arsenal, City, Chelsea and Liverpool were going to win the league. And I refer to the latter parts of the season.

So a few teams over the years may have punctured the perpetuity that is Bayern Munich in Germany, every season, until it changes, I tip Bayern to win the league unchallenged. And I speak for many people.

Funny enough, it turns out to be so most times than not. That's extreme predictability.

Nihilist:
It's actually pretty easy to predict who would win the EPL as it is invariably one of either Chelsea, Manyoo or ManCity with Arsenal as rank outsiders.

That is a 1 in 4 probability and still more of a task predicting the eventual champions. The same cannot be said about the Bundesliga and that is the point.

As it stands, Dayo is currently winning the argument. Perhaps a more appropriate statement is that "The unpredictability of the Premier League manifests in a way that makes it nearly impossible to be certain about the Champions before the league starts" and that "The same cannot be said about the Bundesliga"

That said, the fact that Chelsea "appear" at this moment in time to be running away with the league does not make the league more predictable. As a matter of fact, this year's turn of events is an exception and not in any way similar to what is widely regarded as the norm in the Bundesliga.

Are the band boyz on holiday? Let's gerrit started o jare.

Noah13:
I just hope a team like Soton doesn't end the team's unbeaten run.

That just might happen.

AirborneLacer:
Citizens are already dropping points

Imgine I was giving them even more credit.

Noah13:
So u din't know they lost to Tottenham and the struggling Liverpool.

The fact that we are now counting those they lost to is testament to how well they've done. After losing Lovren, Lambert, Shaw, Lalana and their manager, no one would have placed Southampton at this stage higher than 15th.

They are winning games they can. That is a huge achievement for a team that lost a core of their squad from last season; including their manager. They've only dropped 8pts from a possible 33.

Talk about Southampton. That's no longer looking like a fluke.

City drop another 2pts.

Goaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllll
QPR