One of the main success stories of the Premier League this season, Southampton’s rise to prominence as a force to be reckoned with seems to have vindicated the decision to sack Nigel Adkins in favour of Mauricio Pochettino.
At half time on Sunday, the Saints sat second in the live Premier League table, as their defensive solidity and pressing high up the pitch looked set to take another notable scalp in the form of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.
However 45 minutes is a long time in football, and three goals later it was Chelsea who had turned the game on its head to move to within four points of leaders Arsenalwith a 3-1 win. Mourinho’s half time introduction of Demba Ba saw the Stamford Bridge outfit line up in a 4-4-2 formation for the second half, and key to the success that this drew was the performance of Ramires in central midfield.
Not noted for his defensive capabilities, Ramires produced a display of running that helped to hold together the Chelsea midfield and ensured that Southampton’s numerical advantage in the centre of the park didn’t pay off. Mourinho introduced Ba to partner Fernando Torres at half time in an effort to restrict the time on the ball given to the Southampton defence, stretch the play and to exploit the space in behind their defence that is a natural consequence of Southampton’s efforts to press the opposition high up the pitch.
His action Heat Map shows the extent to which Ramires had to adapt his game for the formation. Above is his Heat Map from last week’s victory over West Ham, in which he was playing on the right of a central midfield three anchored by John-Obi Mikel, whereas the map below shows his touches against Southampton on Sunday.
Restricting his attacking tendencies, he had more defensive work to do in the absence of a third central midfield player – be it Mikel sat behind him or Oscar in a number ten role.
Subsequently, Ramires made more tackles than any other player in the Premier League this weekend. His eight tackles puts him clear at the top of the standings, and includes five tackles in the second half. His second-half tackle numbers alone would put him sixth in the Premier League standings for tackles over the weekend.
Ramires’ tackle numbers helped to ensure that, alongside Frank Lampard, he could snuff out the threat of Southampton counter attacks and break up play. His tackle statistics and general pressing was a contributing factor to Southampton recording their third lowest pass accuracy of the season, and for the poor performance scores of their midfield players.
Highly-rated Morgan Schneiderlin recorded a Squawka Performance Score of minus 20 – comfortably his lowest of the season – whilst Victor Wanyama recorded his lowest pass accuracy since the beginning of October, both in spite of the Saint’s having an extra midfield player for the beginning of the second half.
Ramires’ game did have some limitations, hence his Squawka Performance Score of 13, but he did exactly as was asked of him as Chelsea turned the game around. His Performance Score was slightly damaged by the failure of the Brazilian to see eye-to-eye with referee Michael Oliver.
As well as the most tackles of the weekend, Ramires also has the dubious honour of making the most fouls in the Premier League this weekend, as his six fouls edged him ahead of second placed Shola Ameobi.
However, with many of his misdemeanours occurring in the same central areas as his tackles Ramires still broke up the rhythm of Southampton’s attacks – albeit by foul means as well as fair – and was let off the hook by the ease with which Chelsea defended the set pieces.
His performance score also took a hit due to his lack of possession. He only made 20 passes all game, at a success percentage of 80%. Two less than teammateFrank Lampard, who only entered the fray in the 41st minute, Ramires was restricted to a less active role on the ball than normal as Chelsea went more direct with their passing to their front pairing of Ba and Torres.
However, Ramires did contribute an assist amongst his 20 passes. Bursting forward in the 90th minute, by which time Torres had made way for Mikel to hold the fort and beef up the midfield, the Brazilian showed good energy to ease past Steven Davis and square for Ba to score.
Mourinho’s tactical nous was the key factor behind Chelsea’s win in the proverbial game of two halves and the energy and tackling of Ramires provided the foundation that allowed him to get away with playing two strikers as he chased the game from 1-0 down.
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