SOUTHAMPTON
NEW OWNERSHIP HAS GIVEN FANS HOPE THAT A NEW SIGNING OR TWO MAY SPRUCE THINGS UP
THE PLAN
Saints have been in a footballing demilitarised zone for years now. Too good to go down, not good enough to push on, they’re merely... existing. Sooner or later, conflict needs to kick them into action, especially as the stars of St Mary’s are no longer being plundered with boring regularity and Ralph Hasenhuttl has slammed the managerial revolving door shut. With leadership throughout the side, there’s an opportunity to end this stasis and trouble the top half if the right faces arrive – because already, Che Adams, Mohammed Salisu ( who last season won possession more regularly when pressing opponents than any other Premier League player) and free- kick cheat code James Ward- Prowse have significantly more to give than a third straight 15th- place finish.
LESSON FROM LAST YEAR
How exactly can Southampton pick themselves up and out of slumps? Last year, they claimed their first victory eight games into the campaign and won only one of their final 11 fixtures – against Arsenal. The season prior, they were third just before Christmas and then lost 15 of their 21 matches after the winter mini- break; and in the campaign before that, they went two months picking up a single point. Hasenhuttl needs to find a solution sooner, whether that’s by rotating the squad or coming up with a surer Plan B than bombarding opponents with a regimented press that’s being bypassed. A new owner at St Mary’s means that the next time Saints sag back into their old ways for 10 to 15 matches, things might become pretty uncomfortable for their manager.
THE MOOD
Southampton know what to expect. Hasenhuttl’s sides will wear the studs off their boots, but damned, dogged perseverance will take them only so far. New ownership, however, has given supporters hope that a quality signing or two may spruce things up.
ONE TO WATCH
Kyle Walker- Peters is back in position on the right due to the awful injury to Tino Livramento, who’d been electric. Being able to naturally stay wide could make Walker- Peters a season- defining player in Hasenhuttl’s narrow 4- 2- 2- 2 system, and even earn the 25- year- old more call- ups to an England squad that isn’t lacking in right- back options.
MOST LIKELY TO...
Get battered. Forget the ‘ n’ number becoming Premier League folklore – last term Southampton also racked up some thrashings from Chelsea ( 6- 0), Aston Villa ( 4- 0), Leicester ( 4- 1) and Brentford ( 3- 0), and that was just in their final dozen fixtures. If Saints go 2- 0 down, get your in- play bets ready.
LEAST LIKELY TO...
Sell a star to Liverpool. Virgil van Dijk was the last to tread that clichéd path, in January 2018; since then, though, Saints have borrowed Danny Ings and Takumi Minamino on loan from the Reds. Mo Salah to St Mary’s, anyone?
FFT VERDICT 15TH
Saints need a strong start more than most. After a sorry end to last season, Hasenhuttl is under some pressure.