A Southampton forum

[boingy]

I'm afraid that I shudder every time a ball is in the air in our box Boingy. We are very good on the deck though.

I suspect most defences have fell prey to balls in the box including Leicester and Ipswich. Overall we’ve been pretty sound at the back Tipp. We just need to turn up like we did v Leicester minus the defeat.

[Albionic68]

I suspect most defences have fell prey to balls in the box including Leicester and Ipswich. Overall we’ve been pretty sound at the back Tipp. We just need to turn up like we did v Leicester minus the defeat.

While the stats suggest we're tight at the back there are several things to remember. Firstly just as we can be profligate in front of goal so can the opposition.

Palmer has also pulled off a number of very good saves (amongst a few occasions where we could have expected him to have done better) too which is what he's there for of course.

Goals against stats don't tell us when players are out of position and the opposition fail to exploit them either but we know it happens. Quite a bit, especially at both far posts.

And that's before we get to set pieces which are also part of defending. We've conceded 15 goals from them, the second highest in the division from balls generally played into the box from wide areas.

Set pieces aren't open play yet second and third balls following set pieces should be classed as such. What does this tell us? You can read anything into stats but you should never depend on them, a bit like our defence.

Anyway, COYB 😎.