By Richard Lee - 03/11/2008

Momentum

Football's such a tough sport to be successful at that you have to capitalise on the momentum and initiative in a match when you have it - because there's plenty of moments when things will happen 'against the run of play' or without either side being on top.

Take Southampton away recently. There was no real dominant force for most of the first-half. Southampton played well but they weren't all over us in our final third yet we went into the break 3-0 up. Football can be a cruel game like that, frustrating as well.

But things must even themselves out in regard to getting your rewards for having momentum in a game because the likes of Man United and Chelsea are ultra-consistent and finish at or near the top of the league every season.

Those teams will play the best football consistently and while they might lose the odd game, it doesn't happen too often because they tend to own the momentum or initiative during matches.

It is strange that you see many matches where a team on top will confirm their superiority with the first goal of the game yet then sit back and kind of drop into a mode of protecting what they have, rather than going on from there to dominate the next 15 or 20 minutes. That's a case of not really using the momentum in a game to your advantage.

I've played in plenty of matches, though, where a goal hasn't actually changed the flow of a match. I think it's a case of the really top teams having a mentality that, whatever happens, they'll simply carry on with the way they want to play - whether they're 4-0 up or 2-1 down.

Less resilient sides are more likely to be affected by situations that come up during a game, particularly if that team's not on the greatest run of results or performances.

You do generally get a sense for the ebb and flow of a game while you're playing, but it's very interesting to look back over the game in a more analytical style, using the latest technology like ProZone. Although the result's been and gone by that stage, you can pick over a performance to suggest which of the two sides really did more than the other to win the match. That won't always correlate with the side who took the three points but, like I said above, if you keep turning in displays that deserve to win a game, you'll inevitably do well over a longer period of time.

So grabbing the momentum in a match is vital - even better if you can start the game on top. The most important thing is to recognise when you're on top and really drive that advantage home, because you'll know that the opposition will be trying to do the same when they have a good spell.