Three games have passed since I last wrote and those three are a 4-2 loss to West Brom, a 1-0 win against Stanley and a 3-0 loss to Southampton; all completely embarrassing. At the Hawthorns a week ago, our defense was shambolic and a side that has struggled for goals for a long time waltzed through our defense with ease. We failed to push, or even test, Accrington Stanley and had to rely on the magic of Dimitri Payet to save us in the 96th minute midweek. A 3-0 drubbing by Southampton later and we have reached a new low.
Bilic is right in his description of the first half being a typical 0-0 (apart from the last 5 minutes). We were focused on maintaining our defensive organisation that we had been so desperately missing. Ogbonna and Reid were communicating well, Arbeloa was performing well out of position at left-back and we were far narrower than I remember seeing us recently. Our willingness to sit off was causing Southampton some difficulty and this was somewhat positive. We were defensively better but for one moment where they played one pass that scythed directly through our whole team, something that certainly shouldn’t happen to a side sitting deeper and holding off. Unfortunately, it was a sign of what was to come.
The first goal was an awful goal to concede. We were, yet again, allowing them time and space on the ball and they finally used it efficiently with Bertrand making a run off Antonio and coasting pass Nordtveit with ease to pull back to Austin who had given Ogbonna the slip in the centre. Austin slotted home past Adrian and the descending quiet was all too familiar. After the first goal we collapsed for five minutes and Southampton squandered a host of good chances.
Bilic reacted by changing things at the break. He admitted in his post-match interviews that despite being better defensively, we were not using the ball well going forward now and he perhaps sacrificed some of our stability at 1-0 down by changing the system in subbing Lanzini off for Feghouli. We started the second half playing more of a 4-2-3-1 than a 4-1-4-1 (how we started the game) as Payet came into the centre. Dimi had barely had an effect on the game at this point and this is how it would continue as Southampton dominated the opening exchanges; by the hour mark, it could have been 4-0 had it not been for Adrian making some top saves.
Our completely inexplicable defending had returned and this was perfectly exemplified in the second goal. Complacency and a lack of intensity meant that we were moving the ball too slowly and our defense had no shape whatsoever and when Kouyate inevitably lost the ball in the centre we were left wide open for Tadic to exploit. There was a little fight in the side from here as we had a few chances and a couple of penalty shouts but really there wasn’t much of note. Zaza missed a good chance after being felled in the area twice and booked for dissent/diving on one of these occasions and Payet missed another good opportunity from the edge of the box. Maybe we should have had a penalty for a Bertrand handball but we shouldn’t be relying on refereeing decisions for hope…
There’s no need to talk about the third goal.
Today was awful and the cracks in our confidence couldn’t have been more clear. For 40 minutes the players were disciplined and held their shape, sticking tightly to the tactics they had been prescribed. They struggled to find freedom going forward because of this but there was a tightness and organisation to our performance that I could appreciate. However, as soon as we were undone and the first goal went in, that organisation, discipline and tightness disappeared and we became the shambles that we have seen time and time again this season. I cannot understand if Bilic persists with Nordtveit at right back because he offers little to nothing going forward and he hasn’t exactly proved to be the most defensively capable in that position either. Noble is hanging tightly to his performances last season because he has been awful thus far.
Trying to think positively, it can be said that Arbeloa seems to be a decent answer to our left back problems for now and that there was a little more purpose to Zaza today than there has been in games before. Iain made an interesting point though in his initial post-match reaction, if it is true that, after a certain amount of games, his hefty price tag becomes mandatory; then do we continue to play him despite his poor form?
Keep the faith; things will get better. The eventual returns of Cresswell, Carroll and maybe even Sakho could improve us significantly. For now we need to be more resilient while missing key players and we need to show that in the upcoming games to get some points on the board.
I’ve updated the player league table for those interested:
Antonio – 32
Adrian – 22
Collins – 17.5
Masuaku – 16
Kouyate – 13
Payet – 12.5
Noble – 12
Reid – 11.5
Lanzini – 8
Nordtveit – 7
Tore – 6.5
Byram – 6.5
Ogbonna – 6
Valencia – 4
Fletcher – 3
Calleri – 2.5
Arbeloa – 2
Carroll – 1.5
Obiang – 1.5
Ayew – 1
Zaza – 1
Fernandes – 0.5
Feghouli – 0