Southampton boss makes 'quite handy' admission after set-pieces success vs Sheffield Wednesday
Southampton beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 at Hillsborough on Saturday afternoon, scoring all three of their goals via dead ball situations.
Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert dismissed suggestions that his side primarily targeted Sheffield Wednesday’s vulnerability at set-pieces after scoring three goals from dead ball situations at Hillsborough on Saturday.
The Saints maintained their pursuit of the Championship play-off places with a fairly dominant 3-1 victory, inspired by goals from James Bree, Ryan Manning and Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
Bree netted the opener after 17 minutes, capitalising on Wednesday’s failure to deal with a corner, before Manning beat Seny Dieng at his near post with a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area in first half stoppage time.
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After Wednesday, out of nowhere, had pulled a goal back via Jerry Yates shortly before the hour mark, Southampton restored their two-goal advantage when Harwood-Bellis bundled the ball in after the Owls failed to deal with another corner.
Wednesday have now conceded a whopping 20 goals from set-pieces this term, meaning that has firmly established itself as their Achilles heel. Eckert, despite playing down suggestions the Saints had targeted Wednesday’s set-piece woes as a weakness, always felt they could be a useful route to goal amid his expectation the Owls would set up with a defensive approach.
Asked if Wednesday’s vulnerability at set-pieces was something Southampton had identified as a weakness in their pre-match preparation, Eckert told The Star: “No, I wouldn't say that. I think that we did have the chance to open up that game today from open play, actually, with some good chances.
Eckert makes Wednesday admission after set-piece success
“We were expecting them, having come from a long away trip in midweek, to maybe defend a little bit deeper. You have that block already deeper to play against, and then it's just natural that you might get a couple of set-pieces off the back of that.
“We knew that this was something that might bring the game in our direction, and I think that came quite handy today.”
Southampton had an extra day to prepare for their trip to Hillsborough after playing their midweek match on Tuesday night, 24 hours ahead of the Owls being beaten 2-0 by Norwich City at Carrow Road on Wednesday night.
Eckert always felt the Owls being forced to play for a second time in less than 72 hours would have a bearing on the contest.
The Southampton boss added: “I think that Henrik [Pedersen] is doing an unbelievable job. I can only imagine how hard that it is.
“And now, especially with the midweek game away and the long travel, I don’t think it’s easy after you come back at four o'clock in the morning and you don't have training on Thursday; you only have one session to prepare.
“Then, once we got going, I think that we had good quality on the pitch. It was clear from the quality that we have, the way that Sheffield Wednesday set up, that there were some moments where we might play against a deeper block, and we were prepared for that.”