Interesting stats comparing saints this season and last season

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2015/05/27/southampton-improve-in-defence-but-passing-takes-a-hit/

The upshot seems to be we are tackling more (and winning more tackles) under Koeman but at the expense of our passing which has gone down in accuracy. Defence is (no surprise) better while our attack has pretty much stayed the same with 33% shooting accuracy (although we have had less shots on goal than we did under mopo).

More long passes early as we have the ball more in defence and use Pelle as a target man away from the box, less high press so less likely to intercept the ball and more likely to need to win it with tackling.

More long passes early as we have the ball more in defence and use Pelle as a target man away from the box, less high press so less likely to intercept the ball and more likely to need to win it with tackling.

You rang?

The differences in tackling are so small as to be statistically insignificant. Nine fewer attempted, seven more won across 38 league and a handful of cup games isn't such a big deal. They'll never be perfectly aligned.

Passing stats are a little more interesting, although they only hint at the full picture. Are players making more runs? Do we have lower possession? (after all, you can't pass if you don't have the ball as much) Are we making longer passes and so require fewer to cover the length of the pitch?

Stats are great, but they're always open to interpretation.

The differences in tackling are so small as to be statistically insignificant. Nine fewer attempted, seven more won across 38 league and a handful of cup games isn't such a big deal. They'll never be perfectly aligned.

Passing stats are a little more interesting, although they only hint at the full picture. Are players making more runs? Do we have lower possession? (after all, you can't pass if you don't have the ball as much) Are we making longer passes and so require fewer to cover the length of the pitch?

Stats are great, but they're always open to interpretation.

Surely the most impressive stat is in the goals...

We scored the same number but let in 13 fewer. I suggest that was the most significant difference those stats show

I think that if you compare Bertrand and Alderweireld with Shaw and LOLvren, you'd say that they were arguably both more solid defensively than their predecessors, and also less inclined to giving away daft free-kicks near our goal (thinking of LOLvren in particular here).

Also, much though I liked Boruc, at least Forster doesn't do Cruyff turns in his own penalty area.

Same number of goals (54) and 18 of those came in 3 matches (Sunderland, Villa, Newcastle) meaning from the other 35 games we scored 36 goals, so approx one per game - thats the main area for improvement next season.

37 home goals from 19 games

17 away goals from 19 games

If you only look at games we conceded in, then we didn't keep a single clean sheet all year. So a clear area of concern that needs addressing next season.

If you only look at games we conceded in, then we didn't keep a single clean sheet all year. So a clear area of concern that needs addressing next season.

You've completely missed the point. It's losing in matches where we score fewer than the opposition that's the problem.

If we could turn the matches where we score fewer than the opposition into us getting 3 points we'd be much higher up the league.

Last Season 8th Place 56 points (a club record)

This season 7th place 60 points (a new club record)

These are the only stats that count.

You've completely missed the point. It's losing in matches where we score fewer than the opposition that's the problem.

 

If we could turn the matches where we score fewer than the opposition into us getting 3 points we'd be much higher up the league.

 

Why on earth this still hasn't been addressed I will never know.

The gist of the article is we've become slightly worse statistically overall this season compared to last but we've finished higher. So, um, hooray for Ronald Keoman!

We didn't score enough goals from February onwards - that is a critical statistic.

Last Season 8th Place 56 points (a club record)

This season 7th place 60 points (a new club record)

 

These are the only stats that count.

Actually they're stats that don't count for anything unless you ignore the 104 years of Football League history prior to the Premier League.

Why on earth this still hasn't been addressed I will never know.

This, together with the number of extra times we've had to kick off which needs close scrutiny