Gameweek 5: The Post Mortem. WBA v RDG, SOU v AVL

West Brom 1 Reading 0, Southampton 4 Aston Villa 1

Summary:

West Brom start with a new look attack while Reading start with a relatively attacking formation, which played into West Brom's hands.

With both sides having reason to cheer in the first half but no goals to show for it, West Brom manager Steve Clarke shifted to 4-2-2-2 temporarily to make use of his substitutes, and switched it back quickly to prevent Reading from capitalising.

A tale of two halves in terms of tactics at St. Mary's, where Villa's starting XI were more efficient than Southampton's, but the subs were all the difference in the second and Southampton, especially Clyne and Puncheon, took full advantage.

Lineups:

West Brom field the same back line, but up front Brunt, Gera and Lukaku spearhead the attack in place of Dorrans, Fortune and Long. Reading go ballsy by fielding 2 strikers in Le Fondre replacing midfielder Jem Karacan. This will be an intriguing battle as we will see West Brom's new front four operate together for the first time, and we will also see how Reading's thinner midfield cope with Yacob and Mulumbu in their way, while dealing with the presence of attacking midfielders Morrison and Gera.

In terms of strategy, West Brom, on paper, should have relatively little trouble dealing with the midfield pairing of Guthrie and Leigertwood, and should be wary about being hit on the counterattack by Reading's quality players in McAnuff and McCleary. Reading, however, should use their two forwards to their advantage and force 2v1 battles for West Brom's soft spots, especially Billy Jones at right back and Joseph Yacob, if Mulumbu advances.

Tactical Notes:

• Reading unable to handle James Morrison, but McAnuff and McCleary have a good go at West Brom

With both teams' game plans relatively straight forward, it was really about who could execute it better. For the first half, both teams had decent oppotunities to execute them, but West Brom created the more clear cut goal scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes, most notably Lukaku's 1v1 at the end of the first half and James Morrison's early chance.

West Brom though, were content to keep Reading's two wingers down by fouling them. Reading, however, were unable to capitalise. West Brom were unlucky to not concede a penalty as well, when McAnuff did manage to take Billy Jones on 1v1. With Reading conceding the ball to Morrison, Reading marked out all his pass options quite diligently and West Brom tried to attack Reading through the flanks. However, West Brom's quality on the wings, as well as Reading's diligent defending through the aerial route meant that defense trumped offence for both teams in the first half.

• The Shane Long effect, and dictating play from deep

With Reading making like for like substitutions, West Brom surprised many by taking off the player that Reading backed off most in Morrison for Long. What Reading wasn't ready for was Graham Dorrans' introduction.

When switching from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2, two things happen: firstly, the two defensive midfielders are encouraged to move forward with the ball while the two forwards kept the centerbacks pinned in their position.

What happened was completely the opposite actually. While Yacob and Mulumbu were occupying the same positions, Dorrans and now Chris Brunt, who was previously operating on the wing, were prompted to move into the center to fill the space left by Morrison.

Steve Clarke recognised that Brunt was underutilised and Gera was misfiring, and he replaced his most effective weapon, Morrison, with TWO attacking weapons in Dorrans and Brunt. With Dorrans and Brunt moving in tandem, the 4-2-2-2 formation worked straight away as Dorrans found Long, which found Lukaku who made no mistake.

Note: Steve Clarke only used this 4-2-2-2 formation for a very short amount of time due to the fact that he left his flanks very open to Reading's wingers. Almost 5 minutes after Lukaku scored, Rosenburg came on for Lukaku, who took up an average position really close to the halfway line, which pushed Brunt and Dorrans out to the wing to protect their full backs.

Fantasy Implications

With West Brom's goal coming from tactical brilliance rather than an individual one, I wouldn't be able to make recommendations from this game alone. However, Reading's wingers are a constant threat and are worth monitoring, especially if Reading start going on a scoring streak, (Scoring streak I said, not winning streak), they will be handy differentials.

Southampton 4 Aston Villa 1

Lineups:

Southampton lineup with the same formation as they did against Arsenal last week, but with Argentinian goalkeeper Guzzaniga making his debut, Yoshida starting over Hooiveld, and Ramirez starts in place of Ward-Prowse. On paper, while I would suggest that Southampton are fielding a 4-5-1 against Villa, the injection of quality in Ramirez will certainly allow the Saints to involve Lallana, Puncheon and Lambert more in their possession play instead of replying on counterattacks alone. Southampton will attempt to use this new firepower to their advantage.

Villa, meanwhile, also field the same 4-4-2 as used against Swansea last week, with the only exception of in-form Benteke replacing Weimann. The 2-0 win over Swansea last week was decided by a moment of brilliance and an opponent's mistake, and with Southampton likely to score this game, what Villa will take from this match hinges on the performance of the midfield pairing of Bannan and Ireland, in terms of how effective they'll be in utilising their possession, as well as how well they help El Ahmadi in keeping Southampton down.

Tactical Notes:

• Southampton involving all the forwards in attack with Ramirez in play, Villa take the lead through slack defending

Predictably, with Ramirez occupying a significantly more attacking position than Davis last week (almost level with Puncheon and Lallana), Southampton's new front four were making more positive progress than Villa's front four of Ireland, Bannan, Bent and Benteke.

An interesting thing to note is that Southampton's front four were allowed possession more in between Villa's defense and midfield compared to Villa's counterparts. This is where both teams' midfielders' area of play comes under scrutiny. Southampton's "wide men", Lallana and Puncheon do not hug the touchline and tend to drift in center alongside Ramirez and outnumber El Ahmadi in defensive midfield 3v1. Villa, however, only have Ireland stationed there against Schneiderlin as Bannan has a tendency to drift to the left slightly, and Holman, a natural winger, has to move in to center of midfield occasionally to fill the gap.

Naturally, most of Villa's positive play stemmed from Bannan and Lichaj, or occasionally Bannan and Ireland exchanging passes in Southampton's half, resulting in crosses for Bent or an occasional attempt from Ireland.

This lopsided natural position of Villa's midfielders can be epitomised from Villa's opener; with Bannan setting up Ireland for a shot, which Ireland failed and then Bannan attempting a cross, Ireland taking up a position on the edge of the box to collect the second ball and Benteke and Bent waiting in the box for loose change.

It also is important to note Holman's advanced position in the box instead of being on the opposite flank, which we will monitor in the coming weeks in case Villa do score consistently through Bannan's deliveries.

Of course, Southampton's errors were also clearly featured in the goal itself; Southampton once again switching off initially to Ireland's shot, then not blocking Bannan's cross at all, and then allowing Ireland to shoot again, and then the final nail in the coffin being the failure to mark Bent.

Ashley Westwood's introduction for Ireland changed Villa's shape slightly. While Westwood was deployed defensively against Swansea last week, this game he was significantly more attacking minded than El Ahmadi, highlighting that he can either double up as an attacking midfielder, or a box-to-box player. Richardson for Fox was somewhat like for like, with Richardson taking Clyne's spot at right back while Clyne went up the left to aid Lallana in attack.

• Southampton's subs worked, Villa's was right but subs let them down

With Southampton having enough quality to score, they eventually did Lambert produced a moment of high quality center forward play. I will put this goal down to Lambert beating the entire Villa defence himself; although Villa's defenders could've possibly gone at Lambert harder with Vlaar on a yellow, Lambert's first touch was away from goal, and the second he steadied himself for his second touch, he fired and it beat Guzan. The only criticism of Villa's defense is that perhaps Clark could've defended less deeper to close the shot down by Lambert.

Southampton's second goal came from a "substitute", but whether this strategy will be employed again is anyone's guess. A big credit in the buildup to this goal goes to Lallana, Lambert and Ramirez for being patient and not forcing crosses into the box, but the partnership of Clyne and Lallana on the left might work out if Nigel Adkins gives them a run in the side.

With Ramirez stretching the play wide, Ramirez played the ball into the central space that Lambert left behind when he drew out his centerback, and Villa's Westwood was caught napping as Clyne, drifting into the box centrally finished beyond Guzan. We can only speculate at this moment whether Danny Fox would've made the same runs, but at the moment, Clyne at least has demonstrated an eye for goal, and has a decent first touch and a good finish as well.

Villa responded by bringing on Bennett for the cautioned Lichaj, and Agbonlahor for Lichaj's partner in crime, Bannan. With Villa having 3 forwards and no Bannan and Ireland to fill the playmaking gaps, the onus was on Holman, El Ahmadi and Westwood to transition from defence to attack.

The gap that Bannan left behind implied that Puncheon was the free man that could suckerpunch Villa, and that he did. He took advantage of the tired legs of Lowton by beating him on Southampton's left to link up with Lambert, and his efforts were duly rewarded by Villa's third.

With the game over as a contest, Benteke took advantage of Southampton's confidence by running in behind the Villa backline, winning a penalty for Southampton's fourth.

Fantasy Implications:

Lambert cannot be ignored as a Premier League quality forward anymore. While his returns have not been consistent every game so far, with fixtures easing up, Lambert and his chief creators, Ramirez and Lallana will be vying for honours. Puncheon's intelligent runs that exploited Villa's substitutions also puts him under the spotlight as a decent differential. Villa's forward line just isn't value for money at the moment, and it seems that Bannan is still the only one that comes remotely close to a maybe. 3 away games against form sides in the next five will tell us who Villa's real heroes are.