With the national football league entering a Christmas at the midpoint of its season, Jeff Cheshire looks at Southern United’s season so far.
The situation
Nine games in, Southern United has lost seven, drawn one and picked up its first win against lowly Tasman United on Saturday. It remains at the bottom of the table with four points.
Strengths
Creating chances: Goals have been hard to come by, but Southern has created plenty of chances. It has had games in which it has dominated whole halves and put itself in positions to rack up big scores. The fact that it has not taken advantage of that has made this an incredibly frustrating team to watch. Yet it is capable of dominating possession, putting in some handy crosses and getting its strikers into space, which is something to be encouraged by.
Open play: Southern has an elusive front line which is dangerous when put in space. When the team plays straighter, attacks from deeper and gives its strikers some room to create for themselves, it looks at its best - certainly in terms of finishing. Its three goals against Tasman United came via that method, as the Tasman defence struggled to contain the threat of this side in the open.
Effort: Supporting a losing team can be tough, but it is much harder to stomach when it looks like the team is not even trying. That is not the case for this team which, despite its struggles, does appear to be putting in the effort and working hard.
Weaknesses
Goal scoring: Finding the back of the net has been a problem for Southern United. It has scored seven goals in nine games, two being penalties and one an own goal. There seems to be an element of panic when it comes to delivering the final touch and too often shots have been directed straight at the goalkeeper at chest height. Things started looking up in the second half of the last game against Tasman, which could be a sign of things to come.
Conceding sloppy goals: Scoring goals has been the biggest problem, but many of the ones conceded have been too easily allowed. Opponents have been quick to pounce on Southern's mistakes, leaving the defence with too much work to do as it tries to scramble back. It was always clear this team was going to battle, but it has to at least ensure it makes its opponents work for goals.
Breaking down the defence: While it creates plenty of chances, Southern can look unsure of how to break down a defence once inside the front third. It has looked to be patient with the ball, but often it ends up passing the ball around the edge of the box, before eventually taking a poor shot, or not getting one off at all.
Keys for the new year
Stay confident: It was a shame the competition goes on a break directly after Southern's first win. However, the team has to ensure it takes confidence from its performance and carry that through to its next game against Hamilton Wanderers on January 7. In the second half against Tasman, it attacked confidently and consequently played the best it had all season. That is so important in sport, particularly for this team, which has spoken of gaining that confidence all season.
Be clinical: Easier said than done, perhaps. However, the reality is it does not matter how well you do everything else, you cannot win games if you are not scoring goals. If it had converted more of its chances, Southern's season could be looking very different right now. Salvaging the season might be a bridge too far, but scoring some goals and picking up some wins would be an improvement on recent years. To do that, it needs to continue creating chances, then not snatching at them when they come.
Consistency: Southern has taken some beatings this year, but it is often one-off lapses rather than long periods of bad play that are costing it. That shows this team can play the way it needs to, it just has to do it for 90 minutes and cut the sloppy mistakes out of its game.
-By Jeff Cheshire
