COFIRMED: AVB and Pochettino in Club Swap

Mauricio Pochettino has left Souhtampton after being approached by Tottenham. The departure of Andres Villas-Boas left the whole world stunned, including AVB himself. As soon as the angered AVB was brought the news of his replacement, he personally got in touch with Southampton himself and declared his interest in the job to prove he was the greater of the two individuals. After what at first seemed to be a bad day for Nicolas Cortese soon proved to be one of great news, and after a quick discussion between himself and the 36 year old manager, pen was put to paper and AVB attended his first press conference as Southampton's manager.

AVB answered many questions about his sacking at Tottenham but his response was always "My concentration is on Southampton, and I am excited for this new stage in my life".
He also stated "Southampton is a young, talented team, one which I promise Saint's fans I will lead to glory".

Schneiderlin Is The First Player to Leave AVB's Southampton

Talented Morgan Schneiderlin has left Southampton to join Tottenham, and former manager Pochettino, in the first action so far for Southampton in the transfer window. Southampton will miss the midfielder, however the fans are said to be pleased to sell him for the reported £12.25 million pound fee.


The news has not come to much of a shock to fans due to Southamptons Chairman demanding high profile Italian signings, something which will prove to be hard with the £7 million AVB started with, and not to mention Southamptons current club stature. This departure will therefore give AVB a little extra money in reaching Nicola Cortese's demands.

Overview

When I came to Southampton there was a clear lack of wide attacking players, but vast amounts of central attacking players. Instead of delving into the market, I decided to make use of this central players, as I believe they are better players than the wide players I could have bought. This is my current starting tactic.




The philosophies asked of me from the Chairman (in relation to playing style) were as follows:
- Possession Football
- Attacking Football

In order to stick to these philosophies, I have set our mentality to control to try and enhance our attacking philosophy and not sit back.
I have also instructed the team to pass shorter (in order to keep possession) and to work the ball into the box so that our players have a clear aim of keeping the ball and getting it from one side of the pitch to the other without losing it. At the moment I have not instructed them to keep possession as I believe this strays away from our attacking philosophy and doesn't make us as dangerous when attacking.

Advanced Tactics

When going into more detail I have targeted a few players and given them separate roles and instructions.

My defence is fairly basic with two central defenders doing a job in defence. I have set my left and right back to wing backs in order to get them forward when possible so that we have some options out wide. Our current young wing backs suit this role perfectly. I have also given them the following instructions:




I have three central midfielders, all with a different role to fill.
My first is the Box to Box midfielder. He is the 'all rounder' who I want to be hard working and contribute to all phases of play. My Captain, Jack Cork, suits this role perfectly (with work rate of 18).
My second is the Advanced playmaker. This player is a key man who should set up chances and even create chances for himself. I want him to be more focused on attack, but still have some role to play in defence. My first choice in this position is more than likely to be Aquilani.
My third is the Ball Winning midfielder. This player will be the defensive minded player looking to win the ball back for our team before the opposition becomes a danger in our final third. He will need to work hard and have good attributes defensively. Victor Wanyama is the definition of this role, and I am very glad to have him.




I play two Central Attacking midfielders, with different roles. One being more of a chance creator (the Trequartista) and the other being a goal threat (the Shadow Striker).

I play a lone striker. I have set his role to a poacher in the hope he will bag lots of goals, or atleast create a lot of chances for himself through the outlet of my advanced playmaker or trequartista. My starting striker will often be the very talented Osvaldo.

A disappointing start it has to be said. Although tough fixtures I would have at least wanted to come away with one win, and compete with Chelsea a lot more - however this was not done. Rather disappointingly not one goal was scored in the Premier League, which is confusing as we scored a lot in pre season.