Saints used four full backs on a regular basis, in the second of our season's verdict articles we look at each of the quartet and analyse their contribution to the season and the defence in general.
The one thing that becomes clear from looking at the seasons statistics is how integral the full backs are in providing goals for the team, Saints scored 85 goals in the Championship, of which 76 have been assited (Im assuming that the other 9 were either penalties of the stats people have added up wrongly) of that total 23 were provided by the full backs,for save you doing the maths, almost a third of all assists were from this area with Danny Fox leading the way with 11 from 37(4) appearances, Fraser Richardson with 10 from 33(1) and Danny Butterfield with 2 from 9(1), Dan Harding didnt have a single assist from 12(8) games. Only Rickie Lambert had more assists with only Adam Lallana also getting into double figures with 10, for the record Gult Du Prado had 7, most in the first half of the season like his goals, before certain sections of the crowd started to crucify him.
Undoubtably in the way Saints played it was the job of the full backs to push into space created by the midfield and get the ball into the box, the contrast came from the fact that in Richardson and Harding you had players that would look to get down to the byeline and deliver whilst Fox and Butterfield preferred to remain deeper.
These stats show why I felt a long time ago that Dan Harding needed replacing if Nigel Harding was going to have his team set up in a certain way then he needed the players to deliver, in 2010/11 Harding contributed 2 assists and the season before only 1, Adkins being a footballing scholar would have realised that whilst some players look better than others on a pitch, at the end of the day it is about end product and Harding who the fans perceived as an attacking full back who got down the line and got in crosses, wasnt exactly delivering any that created any goals, the manager made a key decision in signing Fox before the transfer window closed.
Usually when you rely on your full backs to attack, it comes at a price defensively, that is inevitable, both flanks were bound to get exposed at certain stages of games, but as Saints defence waivered in the final quarter of the season, in the main the goals conceded didnt come from down the flanks but from sides attacking us down the middle, of course against Reading Danny Fox gave the ball away cheaply and then got torn down the left to allow in a cross for the opening goal, but the other two goals were from poor play in the centre of defence and midfield, a glance at other games where goals were conceded showed a similar story, in the main the opposition got little change from attacking the flanks, the goals were scored by running at our centre think Blackpool away or pompey's first goal or pumping balls into the box that werent dealt with and the ball banged back in with a vengeance, think Pompey's second or Boro's first.
Nigel Adkins has to be given great credit for the way in which he not only utiilised the full backs as an attacking and creative force, but in the way he realised last summer that he didnt have the men at the club to deliver and needed to bring in replacements, that was harsh on Danny Butterfield who to be fair let no one down last season or even this, but Adkins knew he needed just a little more attacking edge, on the left it was a little easier, some people think I am biased against Harding, nothing could be further from the truth, I just saw things in the same way as our manager, if Saints were to play in the way he wanted, he needed a left back who could create far more than the 3 assists in 77(1) games that Harding had managed in his first two seasons with the club, its not rocket science and whilst football is of course a game of passion and statistics cant tell the full story of a game, they are still a pretty good indication of whats going right or wrong in a team, a centre forward is judged by the goals he scores and creates and that is no less the case in an attacking full back.
Some of you will remember how a year or so ago I espoused the theories set out originally in the book Moneyball and then later Soccernomics, whilst some may sneer, Nigel Adkins clearly isnt one of those and thank goodness for that as ultimately it has helped him improve our team to such a great extent that we won promotion.
So in the main the verdict on the full backs is positive, none of the four who regularly filled the positions let us down, Fox and Richardson were outstanding in how they created an essential ingredient to the team that had been lacking and Harding and Butterfield contributed when called upon.