- Aug 4, 2013
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- #81
I think the interchanges in this game were a lot more controlled, Eriksen would slot alongside Mason in the build up and Lamela would go RWF, we would build up in a 3-4-3 shape in this game. Lennon's movement became a bit erratic towards the end of the 1st half but his movement did allow Soldado to drift away from his markers and Lamela to run in behind him and score his two goals.It would appear you were right, Eriksen not working anywhere near as much as Holtby did let us see the true nature of the system more consistently.
So to discuss the 4231 system being used I have to admit I am a bit uncomfortable with it. I like the movement and rotation aspects of the 3 behind the striker but it seemed to continually only be Eriksen who fully rotated with Lamela/Lennon doing so less so. This resulted in a bit of an imbalance and also on a few occasions we saw Eriksen, Lamela and Lennon within 5-10 yards of each other.
I am a bit unsure as to how this formation will fair against anyone with a half decent attacking left side effectively doubling up on Walker. The midfield 2 play in a style similar to how a 433 would yet we only consistently had 2 available CM's. With effectively 2 wing backs, 2 CB's and one DM holding with only one other full supporting CM I feel we may be quite vulnerable at the back unless we bring in some seriously good defenders as Kaboul is injury prone and Vertonghen loves to go forward and lacks the recovery pace needed. I also dont feel the wing backs we have (including Davies) offer enough in attack to warrant being played as wing backs but I do appreciate the need to have them play as wing backs to help balance the system and stretch the play.
Of course much of this may improve with time but the imbalance and openness at the back (would be more prevalent vs stronger opposition) have started to begin to show some explanations to me for Southamptons poor defensive record beyond the initial 'tired out' and 'young team' explanations which I have gone to in the past.
What is evident though is that we are significantly better at keeping the ball and it would appear by the end of pre season we could be creating a good amount of chances.
Defensively we were poor second half, Carroll as a single pivot offered no protection to the CBs and Holtby positioned himself too far away from Carroll in the build-up phase to be of any support and ultimately we conceded two poor goals. It was like a very advanced 4-1-4-1 shape though because of WBs and Holtby it turned into a 3-5-1 shape with a flat midfield 5.
I'm sure Poch will iron out the cracks eventually as these past two games will have given him a lot to think about.