Tag Archives: ramirez

Oct 25 2013

The Speedy and Sensational Rise of Southampton FC

SouthamptonThree years ago, Southampton were lying in League One, vying to regain promotion to England’s upper tiers. Now in 2013, the Saints are stable in the Premier League, playing good football, and with good quality players such as Gaston Ramirez in their ranks, it’s not hard to see why. Traditionally one of the better sides in English football, the club have suffered ups and downs over the last few years, but now feel they are finally back comfortably at the top table of England’s football structure.

Even in mid-2012, when the Saints gained a second successive promotion, this time back to the Barclays Premier League with a final day thrashing of relegated Coventry City, it would have been hard to imagine that they would cope so well on their return to the top flight. Many of the players contained in that side are still with the club in the current squad, including now-England international Rickie Lambert. This shows that the team was perhaps just missing a couple of cogs from their full potential.

Even in their first competitive game back in this league, against Manchester City at the Etihad, there were many signs of things to come for the side. They went behind in the first half, before a shock turnaround saw them 2-1 ahead, before goals from Edin Dzeko and Samir Nasri gave the Citizens the three points. Despite the loss, there were a lot of positives to take from the defeat, and they built from there.

They ended up finishing in 14th place in the 2012-13 season, sacking manager Nigel Adkins halfway through the season and replacing him with the Argentinian Mauricio Pochetino in February. Pochetino guided his new team to victories against sides like Liverpool and Manchester City (in matches at St. Mary’s). However, whilst they may not have lived up to their early billing, there was clearly more to come from the south coast side.

During the summer, Saints chairman Nicola Cortese sanctioned what fans felt to be some very shrewd purchases. Croatian international Dejan Lovren was the first to join, from Olympique Lyon. The 24 year-old is a highly underrated defender, partly because he had only been playing in France’s Ligue 1, generally considered a poorer league, and whether he is or not remains to be seen.

Dani OsvaldoVictor Wanyama, a Kenyan who attracted attention from the likes of Liverpool during his time with Celtic was another player to join the club over the summer for a fee of £12 million. Again, this is a top-quality purchase, considering the midfielder’s accomplishments during his time with the Bhoys, on both the domestic and continental stage. He has been a Kenyan international since the age of 16 whilst he was still playing youth football with Helsingborg of Sweden, and has amassed almost 30 caps in the six years since then.

The Saints’ third and final purchase of the summer was their very own Johnny Depp impersonator, Dani Osvaldo, from Italian side Roma for a club-record fee of £15 million. The Italian international was also reportedly targeted by Manchester City and Tottenham during the summer but joined the Saints with a couple of weeks left in the window, and has had a positive effect on their results so far. He may have only scored once in his first seven games for the club, but there is a belief in the Southampton cap that he will come good sooner rather than later.

In Southampton’s opening games in this year’s Premier League, they’ve started extremely well, sitting in fifth after eight games above sides like Manchester United. The Saints have also suffered defeat in just one of their games at the hands of Norwich City, and drawn three of their remaining seven matches. However, wins have included a tough victory at Anfield against Liverpool, and also against sides such as West Brom and Swansea.

One notable worry is that Southampton - despite having a strong defense that has conceded just three goals in the entirety of this season - can’t seem to score a huge amount of goals, which comes back to bite them in later months. Indeed, they have failed to score more than two goals in any of their league matches this season, meaning their victories and draws have been down to the defensive side of their game.

Whilst it’s still early on in the new season, the signs are all there that Southampton could be set for a good year in prospect. If the defense continues to perform at the current levels and the attacking side of the game improves, then the Saints could be a very tough nut to crack for the bigger sides this season, much as they were at times last year. With Pochetino at the helm and players like Gaston Ramirez and Victor Wanyama in the side, there aren’t too many weak links in the line-up, which can only be good for the team, and the Premier League.

Written by Ben Warner

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Apr 19 2013

An Analysis of Southampton’s Improvement Under Manager Mauricio Pochettino

Mauricio PochettinoIt’s very clear that Southampton have come some way since the post-Adkins era at St. Mary’s. You could say it is down to one man alone: new manager Mauricio Pochettino. Coming from Spain, it enabled him to bring a new style and a new set of tactics to the the team. This immediately had an impact on their results and some of the chances they were creating came from great passing moves.

Their results began to swiftly pick up and they are now in a position where they are a lot more comfortable than teams below them in the league. They have since won 4 games; yes it may not seem like a lot, but the 12 points they have gained from those 4 wins has helped them massively in their bid to avoid relegation.

The Saints currently sit in a rather respectable 11th place; 6 points clear of the bottom 3. Saints fans may not have taken Nigel Adkins’ departure very lightly; but they will no doubt be happy with the progress their side has made under Pochettino and they now look as if they are going to remain a Premier League club after this season.

Their performances since Pochettino’s arrival have certainly taken them to a new level and they seem like a team that is capable of beating anyone in the league. They are playing with a new found confidence and freedom which has allowed the likes of Ramirez, Lambert, and Lallana to express themselves a lot more and be more creative with the ball.

SouthamptonPochettino gets his players to press opponents high up the pitch, knowing that a mistake could occur by a defender. They have also improved a lot on their possession game. They are able to keep possession of the ball for a good few minutes and make it lead into creating a decent goal scoring opportunity.

Another thing which has improved is the work rate of the players. The midfielders are now putting in a brilliant shift to help out the defenders for a full 90 minutes. Something which has worked a treat. It’s not only in the midfield where this happens; it’s everywhere on the pitch.

Southampton players would be willing to cover every blade of grass on the pitch if it meant they would pick up points. The belief and confidence that this Southampton side has is very evident and has helped them along the way this season.

Knowing that 3 of the sides they have beaten this term are Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea will no doubt keep that confidence very high at St. Mary’s and will give the fans much hope of them staying up this season. They will certainly hold off the celebrations until they are mathematically safe, but most Saints’ fans will probably be looking forward to next season and to what could be a very interesting summer transfer window.

Pochettino will no doubt know he will need to add to his squad to ensure they have strengthened for next season, and the way they are progressing, if they continue to do so, they may be looking at a top half finish next season. There certainly are exciting times ahead for the Saints, and their future looks very positive in the Pochettino era.

Written by OneFutbol

Mar 3 2013

Southampton 1-2 QPR: Late Bothroyd Strike Seals Crucial Away Win

Southampton vs QPRJay Bothroyd’s 76th minute goal earned Queens Park Rangers their third win of the season on Harry Redknapp’s birthday. Queens Park Rangers still remain at the bottom of the Premier League table but have found new hope that they can survive the battle against relegation. While for a disappointed Southampton this was a poor result, it is also one which keeps them in the battle to avoid the drop just three points from safety.

Southampton’s main changes to their team was the addition of Fonte and Fox to boost their defense after their 4-2 defeat against Newcastle United just last week. Meanwhile QPR’s changes of players included Remy, Hoilett, and Bothroyd for the injured Bobby Zamora.

Redknapp was greeted with the sound of boo’s from the home team supporters as Harry was the Southampton manager when they were relegated in 2005, before leaving to join their hated rivals Portsmouth just a few months later. Meanwhile, on the other end of the pitch, QPR fans got behind the new changes of the squad as well as Harry, and wished him a very happy 66th birthday.

Redknapp had suggested last week in a interview that he needed to give Junior Hoilett more of a chance as he has been out with an injury for a while, and the Canadian winger rewarded his managers faith in him by withdrawing a lovely diagonal ball from the left wing into the path of Loic Rémy. Artur Boruc’s positioning gave him a sizable portion of the goal to aim at and Rémy’s clipped shot beat the goalkeeper as well as  defender Fox on the line who was covering him. It was the Frenchman’s second goal for Queens Park Rangers since the £8m move from Marseille in the January transfer window.

Rémy could have added an another to his goal tally shortly afterwards, testing Boruc from the edge of the his area, and Southampton appeared to lack the fight and urgency which helped them beat Manchester City at St Mary’s  three weeks ago. Even though QPR seemed to be on top of their game, yet again they shot themselves in the foot in first-half stoppage time.

Southampton vs QPRJay Rodriguez had only just replaced the injured Adam Lallana when he fired away for Southampton’s first shot on target, shooting straight at Brazilian goalkeeper Julio César from 25 yards out. It should have been a comfortable save for the QPR goalkeeper, but the ball bounced off his chest and hands, which led to Gaston Ramirez, who pounced on to the split ball to dunk the rebound into the net.

The second half started well for both teams as they reacted quickly to when Rodriguez cut inside from the left and curled a beautiful shot just over the bar. Also, Jose Fonte’s long range drive from 25 yards out just about brushed the side-netting. At the other end of the stadium, Nathaniel Clyne’s block denied Hoilett a shot on goal.

Both goalkeepers where quiet for a while until half way through the second half, when Julio César was knocked out of his stride after a collision with Rodriguez after the Brazilian had spilled yet another simple shot to save. This collision caused Redknapp to make a change bringing on English international Robert Green a rare cap for Queens Park Rangers.

Both teams where trying very hard to win all three points but QPR came out on top as Southampton’s attacks were far too sluggish. With 13 minutes left, their lack of creativity surely punished them. Yoshida was too weak after a challenge with Park Ji-Sung on the right wing, and the QPR midfielder wriggled to the wireline before firing a killer cross into the six-yard box, where Bothroyd could hardly miss, even on a bad day.

Queens Park Rangers  fans helped boost the players confidence, getting behind the newly named squad, manager and owner, which put Southampton under a lot of pressure ever time they they got the ball. This helped QPR keep the most needed win even, though Southampton had thought they had equalized again when Fonte powered a header from a corner, only for Robert Green to somehow claw the ball away to make sure they keep the lead.

This win was definitely a huge boost for QPR.

Writen by Cam Millington