(Goal Highlights & Match Report) Southampton 2 - 0 Swansea - Possession doesn't win prizes...

Clinical Southampton hold firm to see off profligate Swansea

Another Premier League match down, another frustrating afternoon for Swansea City and their fans.

Swansea went into this one with as much of a first eleven as possible given injury concerns, so realistically you could say that barring the absence of Ashley Williams we essentially had a first choice XI out - sadly it wasn't enough on the day to see off a spirited Southampton side who gave very little away all match. 

It didn't take that long for Saints to impose themselves on the game. Osvaldo, Lambert & Lallana all had chances early on, or should have done better when well placed, and the Swans retreated into a defensive shell which ultimately led to the first goal. 

Lallana crossed into the box from the right, but his cross was only half cleared. It fell to Steven Davis, who fed Lallana (who'd continued his run well) and he in turn smashed an effort across Vorm and into the top corner. The 'keeper got a touch but he couldn't do anything about it, such was the ferocity of the strike.

There were ten minutes after the goal (which came in the 19th minute) where the Swans really struggled to retain possession, so in truth the opening half an hour was pretty poor. Between the half hour mark and half time though, the Swans pushed further and further up the field, and produced a couple of really good efforts.

First Michu was denied by Boruc, before Swansea fashioned their best chance of the match. Dyer went on a darting run in from the right hand side, beat a couple of defenders and crashed a left footed drive off the inside of Artur Boruc's near post. It would prove to be Swansea's best chance of the match.

Before the end of the half though, Artur Boruc would have to produce a really, really good stop to deny Wilfried Bony, whose header from a Rangel cross was heading to the top corner before the Polish stopper clawed it away. The Swans were firmly in the ascendancy now, and Rangel played Dyer through but Nathaniel Clyne did well at the back post to stop Routledge getting on the end of his cross. 

Half time came at a bad time for the Swans as the Southampton defence was clearly rocking, and the interval gave Pochettino an opportunity to reset his team. It made a little difference, but the Swans were still on top and first Shelvey then Dyer both had opportunities after slick passing moves, but they couldn't convert.

Southampton by this point had dropped very deep, and the Swans were guilty of letting them go unpunished. Most of the good play produced from the team in white was coming down the wings, and in truth I felt we hardly got any joy out of Fonte & Lovren at the back. Bony & Michu were both fairly peripheral figures, and Saints' gameplan worked well in not allowing them space to operate in. In Wanyama & Schneiderlin they have two seriously good foils in front of the defence, and I thought they were both excellent today.

Until the 70th minute or so I was pretty confident we'd be able to get something out of this game, but once it was clear we hadn't capitalised on our earlier possession and opportunities Southampton started to gain more confidence. There was then a strange incident with about twenty minutes to go - a corner was given to Saints despite there being no touch from Nathan Dyer (who'd been adjudged to deflect the ball into touch), and Wanyama side-footed home after it had evaded everyone else. Referee Mike Dean ruled it out, however, and for what I haven't the faintest idea. Very much a case of "evening up" his previous dodgy decision, one feels.

The next real chance produced Southampton's second goal, and it was the result of some really shoddy defending. A high ball forward bounced and with Chico underneath it you'd expect the defender to clear under pressure from Jay Rodriguez. Not so. Flores tried to take a clever touch, missed the ball, and despite the retreating Jordi Amat trying to help out Rodriguez fired home past Vorm. Very poor indeed.

That killed the game as a contest, and the Swans had ten minutes to see out without making matters worse for themselves. What makes today really frustrating is that most people watching on would probably agree that we played the better football - and the statistics indicate we bossed things for the majority of the match. 58% possession and more shots in any away performance would normally result in a win, but the truth is I don't feel we threatened sufficiently throughout.

As I've said, everything good we did came down the wings, and we need to be more competitive in the middle of the park. A midfield of Canas, Shelvey & Michu just isn't cohesive enough and we can't play our way through teams with this lineup - we can retain possession but there's just not enough control in the middle of the field to allow us to build anything worthwhile. I'm really hoping Laudrup fancies giving Leon & Canas another go alongside each other as I feel with that combination anchoring the midfield we'll dictate games with a lot more balance than we've recently been playing with.

Overall, a disappointing result but not the end of the world. Some fans have been very critical of the team today on Twitter and elsewhere, but Southampton are a very good side and few teams will come away from St Mary's with points this season, and when you consider who else we've played so far this year I don't think there's cause for concern just yet. Hopefully the squad will be fully fit by the end of the international break, and we can "go again" from there.

On a final, positive note, Michu has been called up to the Spanish squad for their upcoming qualifiers against Georgia & Belarus. Fully deserved, and I think all Swansea fans will wish him all the best - hopefully he'll get some minutes and it'll provide him with another confidence boost - not that he needs it!

Southampton v Swansea match preview, team news, statistics & analysis

The Match

Southampton are a team high on confidence right now. Good early season results see them sitting in sixth place, having only lost one game all season. Pochettino has instilled a "never say die" attitude at St Mary's which is a bit reminiscent of how Manchester United have operated in the last twenty years, and they'll be confident of a result at home to a Swansea team who were occupied by European exploits just three nights prior to this matchup. 

Swansea got back to winning ways on Thursday despite the best efforts of bumbling Portuguese referee Duarte Gomes, and they'll need to play with the same grit and determination they displayed in that encounter if they're to get anything out of this one. With a couple of injury worries, it's likely that other than enforced changes Laudrup will revert to what he considers as much of a "first XI" as he can muster, and he'll be hoping to pick up a confidence-boosting win before we head into the two week international break.

Prior Form (Most recent at top)

Team News - provided by Physioroom.com's Ben Dinnery

Swansea City travel to St Marys this weekend to take on Southampton in the early afternoon kick-off on Sunday. Jacks fans will be sweating on the fitness of a number of key players heading into this fixture, none more so than forward Michu who was left needing stitches after a nasty looking head injury in Thursday nights’ Europa League win over St. Gallen.  However the good news is the Spanish playmaker is expected to be fine.

Michael Laudrup must make a decision on whether to risk Pablo Hernandez, despite training for over a week the boss does want a recurrence of the hamstring injury which has kept him out for almost a month. Ashley Williams is expected to miss out with an on-going ankle ligament problem, rest and recovery will be the best remedy for the big defender but with his recent call-up to the Welsh national side expect a “club versus country” row to erupt very soon. Watch this space!

Finally, full-back Angel Rangel could be in contention having just missed out midweek, the defender has an ankle injury but was seen training by himself on Thursday suggesting a return is not far away.

For Southampton and manager Pochettino their injury status is looking pretty healthy at the moment with the Italian having the luxury of an almost fully fit squad. Full-back Luke Shaw is the only doubt because of illness.

Completely guessed lineups

Statistics & Trivia

• With only seven goals scored in six matches featuring Southampton, games involving the Saints have produced the least goals per game of any team.
• They've only conceded two goals so far, and as such no team has put more than a single goal past their defence.
• The Swans' last victory at Southampton was a 4-1 win in March of 1953.
• A clean sheet for Southampton would mark the first time they've not conceded in four games for ten years.
• The last time Saints conceded two goals in their opening seven games (which they'll achieve with a clean sheet against the Swans) they went on to finish second in the league (behind Liverpool in the early eighties).
• Conversely, a Swans win would mark the first time we've won three Premier League away games on the trot.
• Southampton are tied as conceding the most fouls so far this season, but have picked up the least cards. Go figure.
• Saints are yet to score in the first half of a match this season.
• The Saints have allowed a league-low 14 shots on target in their six Premier League games so far this season.
• They've also only scored one goal from open play.
• Swansea have lost all three games this season in which we've conceded the opening goal.

Straight from the horse's mouth

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup said he thinks Southampton are "the best of the rest", when asked about Southampton's claims to be aiming for a top-four finish:

"It's always good to be ambitious but, of course, I think there are better teams than that. I like the team they have. It's a team who can be in the top 10. Those spots - eight, nine and 10 - are the maximum for them and us in terms of what we can go for.

"I still believe you have all the big sides. The Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton. That's seven. In my opinion, the rest of us play for eighth position and down."

"We have to take things step by step. We've had a very difficult start. We've played some of the top four and the big teams in the first six games, but this is a good test for us on Sunday because Southampton is absolutely one of the best teams of the rest.

"It will be a tough test for us."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/8957697?

Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino thinks comparisons can be drawn between his and Laudrup's coaching style:

'I faced against Michael Laudrup as a player and a manager in Spain. As managers, we share a simple philosophy about how our teams play,'

'Swansea have had enough time to recover from their Europa League match. We expect them to be a very competitive side.

'Every manager is different, every club has their own brand of football. Swansea are playing very good attractive and attacking football.'

Read more: link

Analysis

This is going to be a tough one. At present, the Saints are most definitely marching on and the Swans will have to be at our robust best to stop a team which includes the formidable midfield pairing of Wanyama & Schneiderlin. Those two form, for me, one of the most scary-looking midfield duos in the Premier League at the moment, and I hope Jose Canas fancies a rumble as he's definitely going to get one. Jonjo Shelvey, too, will need to keep a cool head as he's definitely going to be getting in-your-face treatment for the entirety of the match.

I know I've kept banging on about it, but we miss Ash so much. A match like this, I fear, will show how much of a leader of men he's become as without him I think we do always look shaky at the back. The win on Thursday was gritty and a big encouraging step forward, however we did manage to give away a penalty and St Gallen also had numerous other opportunities which they failed to capitalise on - Southampton aren't likely to be so forgiving and with Osvaldo and Lambert both netting their first goals from open play last weekend they're both likely to be in confident moods.

I'm not confident about how much we're going to be able to get in behind at St Mary's. In Lovren they've got a hell of a defender, and the league-low "shots allowed" stat shows how effective they've been in maintaining an organised defensive structure so far this season - I think we're going to have to rely on a bit of individual magic from Bony or Michu and make sure that the rest of the time we keep our shape and don't give away silly free-kicks. They've got some height to their team so I don't fancy our chances if we come under siege from a maintained aerial bombardment.

If we can maintain possession early on, and look to feed Wilfried Bony (who at times has cut an isolated figure) I think we can get something out of this. All the stats seem to point to a 0-0, but I think someone will crack under the tactical pressure there's sure to be in this matchup and there'll be an early goal either way. Let's hope it goes our way and that we can use it to push on and continue our fine away form, which has seen us win our last two matches away from the Liberty whilst also keeping clean sheets to boot. That would be nice, wouldn't it?

Swansea 0 - 0 Southampton - The Swans continue to limp over the line...

First thing's first; I'm officially retiring from predictions. All of the statistics ahead of the last few games indicated we'd see a glut of goals, and my 0-0/1-0 (admittedly "against the grain") predictions proved far from the mark. So, in true flippant form, and with all the stats again pointing to a deluge of goals, I decided to call this one 3-2. Once again, it proved far from the mark...

The Swans struggled to penetrate Southampton throughout the match. The first 15 minutes from the Swans saw them retain possession at ease, however the final ball was consistently missing. Southampton deserve massive credit for lining up with three forwards, and for pressing the Swans high up the pitch for the majority of the match. Once it became apparent the Swans were going to struggle to find a way through the Saints' defence the visitors gained confidence, and for a good 25 minutes at the end of the first half they were the better side. The Swans even seemed to resort to playing long balls; although whether this was the result of tactical instruction or opposition pressure we can't say.

Right at the death of the first half came the game's first real talking point. A pretty dodgy-looking free-kick was awarded on the edge of the Swans' box and Rickie Lambert was surely already celebrating when Vorm managed to claw the ball away from the top corner and out for a corner. From the resulting corner Lallana had the ball in the net, but it was disallowed for a foul on Vorm - in all honesty it looked pretty soft but the Swans keeper did seem to have two hands on the ball - whether that was me imagining things though I can't say, and MOTD will no doubt see me right or wrong later on.

Luke Moore was replaced by Routledge at half time, and while the forward had hardly touched the ball

in the first half I felt replacing Hernandez would have made more sense. Given the scarcity of ball the forward had received, he can hardly have been blamed for not creating more, however the switch almost led to a goal as Routledge broke free down the right before finding Michu with a great cross, only to see the Spaniard head over when well placed in the centre of the box.

Hernandez was eventually withdrawn for Ki on the hour mark, and I felt the Korean had an instant impact in that the Swans actually started to retain possession through the centre of the field. I'd like to see him operate further forward, as by giving him a defensive role it seems to give him doubts about shooting, and he always seems to look for the pass. As any number of Youtube videos show, he loves a shot and I think his willingness to pass must be due to tactical instruction to "keep it ticking over" a lá Leon. Hopefully he'll break his duck soon and we'll see the best of him.

Both Pablo and Dyer haven't been playing well for a while now and Routledge must wonder what he'd done wrong to find himself on the bench today. I thought the Spaniard in particular was atrocious, and I felt pretty relieved when he left the field. Time and time again he gave the ball away and he really needs to find some form if he's to justify his price tag. Dyer also looked bereft of ideas for the most part, and his day was summed up when he was fed in by Michu following a bit of a goalmouth scramble, and found himself beyond the keeper with only a defender on the line to beat. His shot across goal was straight at the one man it was possible to find and was cleared away, and while Michu could and possibly should have shot himself, Dyer's effort was tame and he should have done better. 

In truth that was probably the Swans best chance - the afternoon was summed up when Chico decided to shoot from about 45 yards - his shot was blocked and the rebound almost led to a Southampton breakaway. The Southampton defence held tight and they almost nicked it late on; Mayuka forcing a good save from Vorm from close range. 

The Swans lacked bite in the centre of the field, but more importantly they looked short of a spark in the final third. Routledge seemed to massively help the cause when he came on, and surely he must start the next game. The same can be said of Ki. De Guzman has been impressive this season but he doesn't have the discipline to maintain the shape of the Swansea midfield, and often finds himself dragging others out of position. If Laudrup is going to insist on playing Michu at attacking midfield (and I really hope that stops soon) then I'd much rather see Ki & Leon behind him, as I feel this gives a lot more structure to the side.

On to next week then. The Swans have now only picked up four wins in their last fourteen games - this isn't how Laudrup would have wanted to enter the closing straight and with Man City and Chelsea on the horizon he'll be hoping we can spring a surprise result in one of those games. I know you can't always be on top of your game, but no doubt there's work to be done on the training ground ahead of the first of those fixtures - away at Chelsea next Sunday. 

Still, ninth in the Premier League isn't bad...

Swansea City v Southampton Match Preview, Team News, Analysis & More

                         

      Swansea City   vs   Southampton
            Barclays Premier League

Saturday 20/04/13

15:00pm K.O.

Liberty Stadium

Referee: Phil Dowd

The Match

Swansea will take to the field against Southampton looking for their first win since the beginning of March. Since winning the Capital One Cup, the Swans have only picked up four points in five games and Laudrup knows a win will help reinvigorate his side as they look to push as high up the table as possible. Last time out against Southampton the game ended in a 1-1 draw, but Swansea must be looking at this as a winnable game, given that their next two fixtures are against Man City & Chelsea.

Morgan Schneiderlin scores for Saints against the Swans
earlier in the season.

Southampton have enjoyed a great run of form of late. Home wins over Chelsea and Liverpool have come in the middle of a run which has seen them go six games unbeaten, and there won't be too many fans left doubting Mauricio Pochettino as they find themselves sitting in 12th place in the league, 3 points (and 3 places) below the Swans. Like many football fans, I felt a sense of disgust when Nigel Adkins was dismissed and replaced by Pochettino, but even though Adkins looked likely to keep Saints up it does seem that they have improved under their new manager, especially over the last month. A win over the Swans could see them move into the top half of the table, and a top-ten finish would no doubt be treated as an excellent achievement for a side who were probably expecting to be scrapping it out in a relegation dogfight come the end of the season.

Prior Form (most recent at top)

Premier League                Norwich          2 - 2  Swansea
Premier League                Swansea       1 - 2  Tottenham
Premier League                Swansea       0 - 2   Arsenal        

Premier League                West Brom     2 - 1  Swansea

Premier League                Swansea       1 - 0  Newcastle
            

Premier League                Southampton  1 - 1  West Ham
Premier League                Reading            0 - 2  Southampton
Premier League                Southampton  2 - 1  Chelsea        

Premier League                Southmpton    3 - 1  Liverpool
Premier League                Norwich            0 - 0  Southampton

Team News

Swansea have almost a fully-fit squad to choose from. Neil Taylor could feature after a remarkably quick comeback from his horrific ankle injury, while Leon is available after missing the Norwich game due to the birth of his twin sons.

Southampton have Artur Boruc available again after he missed their last game due to an investigation into an incident where he'd apparently had an altercation with some home fans; the 'keeper has seemingly been cleared of any wrongdoing so will be in the matchday squad. Captain Kelvin Davis is a doubt after picking up a knock in training, while Guly Do Prado is likely to miss out with a fever; Jay Rodriguez, Luke Shaw & Jason Puncheon had also been suffering the effects of the virus but have been given the all clear for the club's trip to South Wales.

Trivia - "Courtesy" of Opta, the BBC and various other sites;

• The Swans average almost two goals a game when playing Southampton at home

• Southampton have not won at Swansea since a 1-0 victory in 1962 in the old Division Two.

• This is the 60th meeting between the sides. Southampton have won 27 times, Swansea 18 and there have been 14 draws.

• Leon Britton is set to make his 400th league appearance.

• While Michu has been grabbing headlines, Ricky Lambert has 14 league goals and is the Premier League's top scoring Englishman. 

• Southampton have thrown away more points (29) from winning positions this season than any other team in the top flight.
• In their last 20 home games against teams positioned below them in the table, Swansea have won 12, drawn 8 and lost 0 of these matches.
•  In their last 20 away games, Southampton have won 0, drawn 4 and lost 8 matches against teams positioned above them in the table.
• Southampton have scored in 80% of their last 20 away games.

• Michu has scored a higher percentage of his team's goals than any other player in the Premier League (39%).

Completely guessed lineups

Straight from the "horse's mouth";

Michael Laudrup is clearly after three points, and had some nice things to say about the new Saints boss:

Michael Laudrup. Genial.

"We have six games to go and Saturday is a key game. 

"We have been in the top 10 for a number of weeks now and if we want to stay 
there we need a win on Saturday, particularly with the games we have after that. Beating the big teams is a bonus, but I'd prefer to beat the teams that are our direct rivals. I believe that if we win on Saturday then we will finish in the top 10. 

"He did great at Espanyol as both a player and a manager. When you go to a new country and a new culture, it is always difficult. But he is doing well at Southampton. 

"They have done well recently after getting some important results against the big teams."

Mauricio Pochettino was asked in the week about the possibility of a top-ten finish:

"What I really want to do is win the game on Saturday, which we all do as a team," the Saints manager said. I think if we're able to do that then we'll be able to do that (finish in the top 10), but first of all we need to play the game. Second of all we need to be better than them and third of all we have to score the goals in order to be able to win the game and get the three points that we really want. 

Saints boss Pochettino. Pensive.

"Our energy cannot be really focused on what might happen. We need to focus on the present, the here and now, what is tangible. What is tangible now is getting three points, always training to compete, always training to win and competing to win as well. If we do that, we will be all right but again our focus has to be on something that is real rather than something that might happen. 

"Also overall, our minds have to be focused in a positive way. It is a normal human condition that we think about negative things, that we consider negative thoughts, but why not think about the positives - the good things that might happen? We just have got to focus on doing positive things for ourselves and always try to win games and play and compete in a positive manner."

He went on to state Southampton are trying to instill a similar playing style to the Swans:

"First of all, I want to congratulate Swansea because they have won silverware this season. Of course, I know Laudrup from playing and managing in Spain so I am aware of his qualities - he is a very good manager and has been progressing Swansea. I was reading an interview with him in a Spanish newspaper, where he said that the managers before him in Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez meant Swansea had been playing under the same philosophy for some time now. 

"Swansea's brand of football is quite established, and their way of playing is quite similar to what we're trying to do here at Southampton. I do think that we play with qualities from the English game, but we add to that with our experience of formations and education as continental managers."

Analysis

I've been really impressed by the football Southampton have been playing of late, and I'm a big fan of Ricky Lambert up top. I know it's clichéd but he does seem the traditional centre-forward, and Ashley Williams and Chico Flores will no doubt have to be on top of the game if they're to stop him adding to his already impressive tally. Jay Rodriguez has hit some form too, with three in his last four (including goals against both Chelsea & Liverpool) and with Adam Lallana likely to feature too, the Saints forward line is more than capable of causing the Swans' back four problems.

The return of Leon will be crucial I feel - any time he's not in the team it seems we don't play with the same rhythm. Leon has become the Swans metronome in the centre of midfield, dictating the pace of the game from in front of the back four, and with a milestone 400th league appearance likely he'll be looking to impress after missing the Norwich game. Another player possibly looking to prove a point is Michu. Snubbed by the panel for Player of the Year, the languid Spaniard seemed, to me, like he's coming into a bit of form and hopefully that'll work in the Swans favour tomorrow.

Over the last few games all of the statistics seemed to indicate a deluge of goals and, while that hasn't quite been the case my against-the-grain predictions of 0-0 and 1-0 proved far from the mark. Both teams are playing attractive football and it's almost certain we'll see some goals tomorrow, in what should prove to be the proverbial "feast of football". Fingers crossed eh. Despite the fact that Southampton are currently enjoying a much better run of form than the Swans, it's more than possible that we could be celebrating a home win come 90 minutes. I'm going to go 3-2 to the Swans. Goals goals goals...

Iechyd Da.