*Disclaimer
The more regular In The Channel reader will have noticed a lack of post game coverage on the most recent match against Sunderland. Let’s be real, you guys didn’t want to read about it just as much as I didn’t want to write about it however please see below the draft that didn’t make the blog
“Not good”
Moving on……
Southampton Vs Leicester is arguably the marque game in the Championship this season. Two sides that within the last decade had been playing European football now languishing in the English second tier. Not surprising then that Sky Sports snapped up the opportunity to broadcast the match. A Friday night footballing aperitif.
While this may give Saints fans a harrowing flashback (I’m not going to mention THE scoreline don’t worry, Sky will do that enough anyway) this encounter pits two of the pre season favourites against one and other. Not only that it pits Martin Vs Maresca, the battle of the heavy possession ideologies.
Stylistically Southampton and Leicester are quite similar, both teams like to pass the ball - a lot. Sitting first and second respectively in the passing statistics for the Championship. In terms of average possession these sides sit top of the pile for that metric too.
The parallels continue away from the tiki taka desires strecting onto how both coaches operate structurally and the demands of certain players. Primarily RM and Maresca adopt a 4-3-3 shape utilising speedy, dribbley wide forwards to go 1v1 with defensive counterparts alongside No. 10s who disrupt defences to create goalscoring opportunities.
Considering the kindred footballing philosophies, the players on Friday night have the opportunity to go mano a mano for the three points. Allowing us to witness top Championship talent battle it out.
Key examples of these gladiatorial duels between the sides are Samuel Edozie vs Stephy Mavididi and Adam Armstrong Vs Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Firstly the two wingers (Edozie & Mavididi) typically operate from the left so while they will not collide with each another in the traditional sense - being on opposite sides of the pitch - the battle for superiority between the two will surely have a bearing on the result.
Leading their sides in average carry distance, on average Edozie carries the ball 12.9m compared to 13.5m for Mavididi. Edozie (5) and Mavididi (8) lead their respective sides in shot ending carries however they have only scored once each in the opening 5 games. Mavididi does have one assist, in contrast Edozie has none.
The attacking returns not exactly setting the Championship alight but the underlying numbers here do match portray their managers desires. Both wingers are direct, dribbling at defenders causing havoc - a moment of silence please for the QPR defender Edozie left on his backside.
Other players that profile similarly in their roles, thus destined to do battle, are Kiernan Dewsbury-HallI (KDH) & Adam Armstrong. Archetypal no. 10s, although Armstrong less so, playing between the midfield and defence lines.
KDH and Armstrong lead their sides for goal involvement. 2 goals + 1 assist for KDH compared to 4 goals + 1 Assist for Armstrong. The Leicester City man featuring in 42.8% of their goals this season meanwhile Armstrong involved in 50% of total goals for the Saints.
The heavy involvement of these two highlights the importance their respective managers place on the No. 10.
*It is noteworthy that Edozie and Armstrong are the only two attacking players to have started every league game for Southampton this season. The numbers demonstrating the two operate exactly as RM instructs, retaining their starting XI places
For the Championship this match is Goliath Vs Goliath - relative to the rest of the league. Yet with such similarities between the side’s stylistically and functionally the eventual winner may come down to who outperforms their counterpart on the night. Somewhat amusing that for such a high profile clash a simple “My *blank* is better than yours” could decide the outcome.
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