Hasenhuttl continues to defy odds at Southampton

Time Stamp: February 24, 2022 2:45 AM

After a 3-1 defeat by Chelsea at the beginning of October, some Southampton supporters were starting to fear the dreaded ‘r’ word. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side had failed to win any of their first seven matches of the campaign. The loss at Stamford Bridge left them 17th in the Premier League, outside the bottom three by a single point.

It was easy to see why there was concern for the Saints. It had been a tough summer for the south coast side, who lost their star striker in Danny Ings and one of their starting centre-backs, Jannik Vestergaard. Ryan Bertrand, a stalwart at left-back over several years, also departed. Southampton signed Tino Livramento, Armando Broja, Romain Perraud, Adam Armstrong and Lyanco, but none was proven at Premier League level.

There was also some disquiet about the prospect of Hasenhuttl calling it quits. The Austrian took charge with the ambition of getting Southampton into Europe, but after a difficult summer that was no longer on anybody’s radar.

Since that reverse in west London, though, Southampton have lost just four times in the Premier League. Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers are the only teams to have collected more points. A routine 2-0 victory over Everton on Saturday kept the Saints in the top half of the table. They could rise to ninth with a win against Norwich City on Friday night.

Hasenhuttl has done a fantastic job this season. His is one of the best coached teams in the Premier League. Every player within the 4-2-2-2 system knows his job. Southampton are well organised in and out of possession. They are compact in both phases of the game.

This aids their pressing game, which is coherent and coordinated. Southampton rank third in the division for successful pressures, and second for pressures in the middle third. This makes them difficult to play through and hard to sustain possession against.

They also rehearse attacking patterns, and the 4-2-2-2 shape allows Southampton to form passing triangles all over the pitch. The nominal wide players are particularly important in this, and it is testament to Hasenhuttl that the level of performance rarely drops even when the personnel changes. Stuart Armstrong and Mohamed Elyounoussi started in the pockets against Everton. On other occasions it has been Nathan Redmond, Nathan Tella or Theo Walcott.

Two of the summer signings in particular have caught the eye. Broja looks like an extremely gifted prospect up top. Livramento has been a revelation at right-back.

Elsewhere Mohammed Salisu, a bit-part player last season, has arguably been Southampton’s standout performer at centre-back. Kyle Walker-Peters has been quietly impressive at left-back. Oriol Romeu and James Ward-Prowse have formed one of the Premier League’s most reliable midfield pairings.

“When we were coming here we had targets of bringing the club as high in the table as possible, maybe reaching European places,” Hasenhuttl said in December.

“But then you see how strong the league is. You see the potential, and there’s another team coming now in Newcastle with absolutely more financial potential than we have.

“But the job is not affected by this hard work, it’s still fantastic. I enjoy my job every day, and it’s fantastic to work at this club with my staff and this team. We do the best to bring good games to the supporters, to make them proud of our team and our club.”

Southampton are certainly succeeding in that regard right now.

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