Match date: 1 December 2013

I last wrote about Southampton after their second match of the season, a 1-1 draw against Sunderland. At that point in the season, they still looked a side that might need more time to fully develop, but as the season has gone on Mauricio Pochettino’s side have become an excellent side to watch and have been making their way up the league table.

Both sides set out in a 4-2-3-1. Lovren returned to the side for Southampton, with Pochettino also opting to start Osvaldo over Lambert. Mourinho made three changes to the side that faced West Ham, bringing in Essien, Torres, and Mata.

First Half to Southampton

It took just 14 seconds for Southampton to score as Michael Essien’s back pass was read by Jay Rodriguez and finished well enough to give Southampton the lead. Perhaps a good number of teams would sit back at Stamford Bridge with a 1-0, especially against Jose Mourinho who has yet to lose a league match at home as Chelsea boss, but Southampton were quite proactive in possession and their pressing throughout the first half. In fairness, they aren’t really a team that is setup to counter attack either way, and it showed a few times as they struggled to make Cech work on a few good counter attacks.

Southampton did not sit back though and their pressing was typically intense and relatively effective in the first half (as was Chelsea’s). Rodriguez, Osvaldo, and Lallana were the three who pressed the highest, with Wanyama and Schneiderlin allowed to squeeze midfield well due to Southampton’s high line. A number of tackles and interceptions, as you can see below,were won high up the pitch for Southampton, but again, the decision making on counter attacks resulting from their good pressing was at times lacking.

A lot of Southampton’s best chances came from a player running from deep with the ball, usually Lallana or Rodriguez and Shaw more often in the second half. The screenshot below is a poor pass from Lallana to either Osvaldo or Rodriguez and summed up Southampton’s ability to create chances, but it came after Lallana picked up the ball about 30 yards out from his own goal and beat Mata, Essien, and Cahill on the dribble. Terry steps into win the ball, but Lallana’s control and pace had brought three players around him leaving Azpilicueta, who intercepted the pass and cleared, to deal with Osvaldo, Rodriguez, and Ward-Prowse.

Southampton were able to dribble into all this space because of Chelsea’s pressing and once the likes of Wanyama and Schneiderlin won the ball back or a Southampton player intercepted the ball, the Saints had a good amount of space to run into. As you can see below, a good number of Southampton’s take-on opportunities came from having possession of the ball within their own half due to Chelsea’s pressing.

Wanyama and Schneiderlin

Pochettino has selected Wanyama and Schneiderlin for every game in the Premier League this season and it has certainly worked very well for Southampton at this point. In the analysis that I linked to at the beginning of the article, against Sunderland, I criticised the duo for their forward passing. Pochettino’s biggest influence is Bielsa and so wants his players to play a high tempo game and try to get the forward players involved quickly. Wanyama and Schneiderlin’s forward passing, however, leaves a good amount to be desired in this area of play. While Schneiderlin is a good passer of the ball, he was pressed more so by Ramires and Essien, and then Lampard than Wanyama which meant the Kenyan had more time on the ball, but still struggled to have an impact on the game with his passing.

Both midfielders were good at winning the ball back, Wanyama attempted 4 tackles, winning three and Schneiderlin attempted 6, winning 4. However, largely due to Chelsea’s good pressing in midfield, they both struggled in keeping possession themselves. Wanyama was certainly at fault for this more so than Schneiderlin. A good example was just before Oscar’s injury when Wanyama had the ball taken away cheaply in Southampton’s attacking third. Too many times it was his lose in possession that led to a Chelsea break.

Schneiderlin played an important role in the match, aside from his usual good tackling. Throughout the match, he would drift to the left side of the pitch when Luke Shaw pushed on, which happen a good amount, especially in the second half. What this did when Southampton was in possession of the ball and working up the field was allow Shaw to become the width of the left and allowed Rodriguez to come infield a bit more to support Lallana and Osvaldo. When out of possession, Schneiderlin’s positioning allowed Rodriguez or Lallana to press Cahill and Cech in possession which made it harder for Chelsea to build at the back. Below you can see Lallana pressing Cahill and Schneiderlin in support.

Mourinho’s Changes

Mourinho was forced to make a change in the first half after Oscar had to come off with an injury. Despite having both Willian and Schürrle on the bench, which in theory would have allowed Mourinho to make a like for like change, he instead chose to put Lampard on and move Ramires to the right. The substitution came in the 42nd minute and so at this point in the match, Mourinho may have had his impending change already settled on, but what it showed at the time was that he had lost faith in the pairing of Essien and Ramires to press Southampton with any effectiveness and to play around Southampton’s own press, which Lampard was able to do much better than the former two.

The second change, which was certainly going to happen with or without the injury to Oscar, was the shifting to a 4-4-2 with Torres and Demba Ba up top and it was a change that tilted the game in Chelsea’s favour as it did few different things for Chelsea. The first being that with two strikers, it allowed Chelsea to push Southampton’s back four deeper and stretch their depth which made Lovren and Fonte have to play in a low block, something that they don’t always seem too confident in doing. Throughout the season, Southampton have been able to play a high line and Lovren and Fonte have done very well in doing so, but the deeper they drop, the more uncomfortable they appear. As Ba and Torres pushed Southampton into a low block, it essentially nullified Southampton’s pressing as there were much bigger spaces for Chelsea to play in, but it also allowed Chelsea to play a much more direct game, voiding the press altogether. With Ba and Torres both relatively good in the air (although Ba wasn’t as good in this match), Chelsea’s centre backs could simply play long balls into Southampton’s defensive third with the hope that Ba or Torres would be able to control it or knock it down for a teammate. Below you can see there was clearly less build up play in Chelsea’s half of the field and you will also notice that, aside from the assists, there were two chances created in each half, in the second half both of the chances came from passes from within Chelsea’s own half.

With Southampton’s depth stretched and with them still attempting to press, a lot of space opened up between the Saints’ centre backs and their midfield. At this point, Hazard and Mata were on the left and right, respectively, but both were cutting in and there was a good amount of space between Southampton’s lines that they were able to drift into. While Mata’s assist did not come from this area, his delivery on the corner for the first goal and his assist for Terry’s goal were both very good.

Conclusion

A good tactical showing by Mourinho. Unfortunately for Southampton, Pochettino couldn’t respond. Taking off Ward-Prowse, who arguably has the best delivery for Southampton and then bringing on Lambert and changing to a 4-4-2 was somewhat odd.

Overall, Southampton looked disconnected in the final third of the field, failing to test Cech given the opportunities for good play on some of their counter attacks and spells of possession. Perhaps it is Osvaldo’s price tag that got him in the side, but Lambert is the much better option for Southampton at the moment because of his ability to link play with Lallana and Rodriguez. For Pochettino, it may have made more sense to play Lambert against Chelsea and Osvaldo against Aston Villa. Another idea to think about is whether someone like Ward-Prowse, who is good on the ball, can pass well, and recycles the ball quickly, can play alongside Wanyama or Schneiderlin, rather than having both start each match.

Mourinho’s final change, bringing on Mikel for Torres changed Chelsea to a 4-3-3, allowing them to dominate midfield and allowed Ba to get his goal. Without Mata in the side, who created 5 of Chelsea’s 12 chances, it sometimes looks as though Mourinho’s side lacks a spark or at least someone who can get the strikers involved. Together, Torres, Ba, and Eto’o have just 4 goals in the league.