Northampton
- Thread starter ivoralljack
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A professional performance true enough remembering the many times we've slipped up against 'lower' opposition. The stats confirm that:
POSSESSION: 64-36 SHOTS: 22-4 OT: 8-1 CORNERS: 12-0 FOULS: 8-6 GOALS: 3-0
Let's hope this gives us the confidence to carry on improving against Championship opposition.
POSSESSION: 64-36 SHOTS: 22-4 OT: 8-1 CORNERS: 12-0 FOULS: 8-6 GOALS: 3-0
Let's hope this gives us the confidence to carry on improving against Championship opposition.
Victoria Swan
Key Player
POST-MATCH INTERVIEW: Russell Martin's Gillingham reaction | Footballnews.netStill can't find Martin's post-match interview
This is the interview after MK Dons played Gillingham in 2021.
Plus ca change ..... "We conceded two really poor goals"!
@CroJack - I think you can just substitute this for whatever he might have said after tonight's game!
For instance, here's the quote from what he told the BBC after the game: "Too many [players] that just weren't brave enough to play ... and we paid for that conceding a really poor goal."
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lliwt yr lavac
Key Player
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Soton have posted his words but no video yet: Martin rues Saints' lack of intensity | Southampton FC | News
Good. Also worth noting the Swans first goal came from an epic Rushworth long kick to Cullen.Fans sitting behind Duff say he shouted "What the f*** are you doing" at Rushworth when the latter gave the ball away just outside our penalty area.
For me it's one of those misunderstood aspects of football. For me, as long as you have physical, fit forwards who will chase and tackle, a long kick from the goalkeeper upfield is superior to passing it around your own defenders. Either your man gets it - as Cullen did in this case - and two passes later it's a shot (and a goal), or the opposition gets it, and you can immediately apply pressure on the defenders in their own third, right where they don't want it.
Contrast this with passing it around at the back. Either your man gets it, and is immediately under pressure in his own third (which he doesn't want), or the opposition gets it and they've pretty much got a straight shot. In other words, you're doing the oppositions work for them.
That kind of "playing out from the back" worked in 2011 when opposing teams forwards didn't press nearly as much, but in the modern game it's suicide, unless you've got highly technical defenders in which case you're a big six Prem team and you can pretty much play how you want.
"Manager who actively coaches intensity out of players rues lack of intensity"
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Soton requires you to be a subscriber to view their videos. Here's the link to Martin's Madness Soton Edition ... Martin on disappointing cup exit | Southampton FC | Video
Behindthegoal
Key Player
Many years ago on a swans site very unlike this one I asked what is the difference between say a string of 10 short passes where the squad was 95% accurate and a long cross field pass with a 50/50 chance. Plus ca change.
"Plus ca change"??? BTG, will you quit trying to introduce culture to this forum. Roughly, the more things change the more they stay the same.
Roughly, the more things change the more they stay the same.
Take those "team makes 50 consecutive passes before scoring" type goals. I've definitely seen cases where 45 of those passes are just defensive players recycling possession in their own half while the other team catch their breath, with only the last 5 passes doing anything of importance.
"Keep away" football is only impressive when it's a lower-level team doing it to a big side, and as Swansea fans we've all enjoyed a good amount of that in the past, when it was relevant and possible. It doesn't work very well anymore (especially in the lower divisions) as Martin's tenure demonstrated. And - unless there's a talent-gap to make the feat noteworthy - it's often boring.
I'm excited at the prospect of seeing some power football this season. More direction, more intent, more physicality, more running, less fixation on possession stats, more fixation on scoring goals and hopefully scoring them quickly and often.
CroJack
Key Player
Never give your opponent a 50% chance of getting the ball. Why would you do that when you can have 100% control of the ball?
There is nothing wrong with possession and passing football. What's wrong is Martin's interpretation and implementation of it.Too slow and too risky.
Good possession and passing football is when you use 2, 3 or 4 quick forward passes to get into the opposition box, create a clear chance and score. Good possession football is when it takes you 5 seconds to win the ball back in your opponent's half by pressing relentlessly. It's more about not allowing the opposition to have the ball than having the ball yourself.
It's pointless (and risky) to pass the ball slowly out from the back when you can create attacking channels with quick, forward passes and movement. If you really want to confuse your opponents and break their defensive shape, then pass the ball quickly and move quickly. Or just bomb them with crosses. Create chaos in and around THEIR box, not the other way around.
There is nothing wrong with possession and passing football. What's wrong is Martin's interpretation and implementation of it.Too slow and too risky.
Good possession and passing football is when you use 2, 3 or 4 quick forward passes to get into the opposition box, create a clear chance and score. Good possession football is when it takes you 5 seconds to win the ball back in your opponent's half by pressing relentlessly. It's more about not allowing the opposition to have the ball than having the ball yourself.
It's pointless (and risky) to pass the ball slowly out from the back when you can create attacking channels with quick, forward passes and movement. If you really want to confuse your opponents and break their defensive shape, then pass the ball quickly and move quickly. Or just bomb them with crosses. Create chaos in and around THEIR box, not the other way around.
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Victoria Swan
Key Player
EXCUSE ME - see post #64 for the first person to use that 'cultured' expression on this thread!!!"Plus ca change"??? BTG, will you quit trying to introduce culture to this forum.
Behindthegoal
Key Player
Do they speak French at your end of the Dominion, @Victoria Swan ?
Victoria Swan
Key Player
Not in the numbers they do in New Brunswick, (Quebec, obviously), Ontario, and Manitoba but it's here. Now we've moved out here to B.C. I miss the 'Franglais'* conversations that were so common in Ottawa. The further west you go in the country the less likely you are to encounter French speakers - plus ca change ... !!
*conversations where both parties freely switch between English and French - sometimes within the same sentence!