How Southampton Have Turned Their Season Around

This season has been an utter roller coaster for any Southampton fan. While the obvious standout is the 0-9 result at St. Mary’s against Leicester back in Gameweek 10, which sums up our early season form very nicely, people forget that the result was an accumulation, a collective result of the dismal run before that. Seven points in eight games, with six losses in that run. Possibly the worst run in our history. At 0-9, you just felt despair. Pure and utter despair. Every player was seen as a liability, the coach looked out of his depth, and every week looked like we were just waiting to be pummeled. The darkest time in our history, without a doubt.

Skip 2 months forward, and we look an absolutely transformed side. We’ve won four of our last five Premier League games, including wins against Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and yes, Leicester!.

What has contributed to this reversal of fortunes? Which Southampton players to look at from an Fantasy Premier League (FPL) point of view? Is this run of form tenable?

A Change In Tactics

When Southampton appointed Ralph Hasenhüttl midway through last season, we were introducing a new style of play which earned Hasenhüttl his moniker ‘the Alpine Klopp’; high intensity pressing. He utilised a 4-2-2-2 formation in his RB Leipzig days, but understandably, we had neither the personnel nor the mindset to immediately implement such a high class strategy. Hasenhüttl had to settle and make do with a 3-5-2 (can change to a 5-3-2) formation, which was not an ideal fit for his ideas and philosophy, but was seen as a makeshift strategy to stave off relegation. And for a while it worked well enough.

As the new season began, however,  the frailties of the 3-5-2 when implemented with the high press was clear to see. The midfield was to porous, leaving our defence hopelessly exposed. The wings were also gashing weaknesses, with so many crosses in the box finding a man. Our centre-backs were simply unable to cover the spaces left by the high press of our midfield, and this big disconnect between the midfield and defence was heavily exploited by our opposition.

Hasenhüttl finally realised that it was time to return to his roots, to return to his beloved 4-2-2-2. An unchanged back four, with 2 midfielders generally patrolling the space between the lines. Two ‘wide’ midfielders who can drift inwards and be a ‘number 10’ of sorts, but also can use sheer pace and skill to get through opposition full-backs. And two strikers up front, one a willing runner who draws away defenders and who may not be shooting so frequently, and another striker whose job is to simply tuck in the chances that come his way.

The result? Since the 0-9 loss, Southampton have played 12 games, winning six, losing four and drawing two. They’ve ascended from firm relegation favourites to twelfth in the league, and just three points adrift of a Europa League qualification place.

Danny Ings – Keeping Fit and Scoring Goals

Every team needs a goalscorer to survive, and Southampton have a high quality player in Ings, For every FPL manager out there, GET HIM! He is in the form of his life, scoring 14 goals in 22 games, second only to Jamie Vardy. His longstanding injury history, which has been his main obstacle to fulfilling his potential, has seemingly left him. He commented earlier this season that he was working on keeping his fitness at a high level, and he was committed to helping the team as much as possible. His predatory instincts will always assure owners that he is always in the box and is always a threat. He had nine shots against Leicester in Gameweek 22, four more than the player in second. He represents fantastic value.

He is also a very important player to the high-press system. Noticeably, it is Ings who starts the press from the front. He decides when the team should perform a uniform press to rip the ball from the opponent in their own area and create a goal scoring opportunity from that. He call the shots from up front on when to press and when to wait.

Stalwart – Uunchanged Defence and Defensive Midfield

Since the introduction of the back four this season, the clear first choice defenders of the team are Cedric Soares, Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens and Ryan Bertrand.

However, it was not always the case this season. The defence never had the same personnel for very long in that dismal early run. Players like Jannik Vestergaard and Kevin Danso featured prominently. At one point, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg played Left Back/Left Wing-Back and James Ward-Prowse played Right Back/Right Wing-Back! Yes, it was a constant, panic-inducing chop and change, and this permeated to the mindset of the entire defence. With Angus Gunn dropping in form at about the same time, it is no wonder we struggled to win games or even keep clean sheets.

With the 4-2-2-2, we’ve become so much more defensively sound. A back four of Cedric, Bednarek Stephens and Bertrand are covered by the tireless engine that is Ward-Prowse and Højbjerg, the former even outrunning N’Golo Kanté in the first half of the Chelsea games. Dropping the out of form Gunn and bringing Alex McCarthy back in to the XI has certainly helped, as Alex has been fantastic!

Conclusion

Southampton may have been the whipping boys at the start of the season, but are now only 2nd in terms of recent defensive form to the mercurial and generational team at Liverpool. Thus, it is imperative FPL managers look at them for cut price options that could prove vital in reaching your FPL goals.

Get Southampton defenders if you need anything. Stephens and McCarthy both at 4.3m. Stephens presents good value and even provides threat from those beautiful long passes.

Oh, and also, get Danny Ings. Seriously.