Our series of 2015-16 Premier League mid-season reviews continues with a look at a Southampton team struggling to replicate last campaign’s heroics.
The story so far
It seemed that the Saints had turned the corner after being bundled out of the Europa League and had started to return to winning ways in the Premier League, unfortunately things went downhill from there. 12 games into the league and the club were sitting in seventh with 21 points, yet since then Ronald Koeman’s side have recorded just one win (an impressive 4-0 victory over league leaders Arsenal), one draw and six defeats.
There have been a few injuries to deal with, the likes of first-choice striker Graziano Pellè has had niggling injuries that have greatly impacted his time and influence, but not in any semblance of the quantity that could be used to justify recent poor performance.
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Many fans felt that the drubbing of the Gunners on Boxing Day would be the catalyst for a return to form for the team from St. Mary’s but since then the side has suffered disappointing losses to West Ham and Norwich City away.
To say that the team is lacking any good play would be untrue but that they cannot maintain a performance for a full 90 minutes seems a perfect description. Fadeouts in the second-half have been extremely costly for the South Coast club after they seem to struggle to bury opponents during dominant opening periods.
The manager
After Mauricio Pochettino came into the club and led them to a record high finishing position of eighth, his replacement in the form of Ronald Koeman left fans and pundits alike really unsure as to what to expect. Despite the massive transfers out of the club immediately before his appointment, Koeman took the team one better than the previous year and finished in seventh, even managing to sneak in for a Europa League position. This time around things have been significantly more difficult for the Dutchman despite having a full preseason under his belt, the freedom to make his own transfer dealings into the club and Morgan Schneiderlin the only major export (though being unable to secure Toby Alderweireld on a permanent deal was a blow).
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Standout player – Virgil van Dijk
It is hard to say that over the opening half of the season anyone stood out for Southampton, with many players having their own purple patches but hardly extended runs of form. Steven Davis seemed at the centre of everything for a while, Pellè was near top of the goal-scoring charts, Mané appeared to cut through defences like a hot knife through butter and Cédric looked to have the most accurate delivery in the league. They all have had similarly bad patches though, as has van Dijk, yet the Dutch defender on the whole seems to have been the most influential.
While captain and central-defensive partner José Fonte was out of form, the former Celtic man seemed to carry the bulk of defensive work and did so well. In recent times while the Saints have been struggling up front the centre-half has pushed forward to threaten on goal coming close on a number of occasions as well as picking up a couple of goals so far.
Second-half prediction
The mid-season transfer window may have considerable impact to the latter half of the 2015-16 campaign for the Saints with several players being rumoured to be targets for other Premier League clubs. Mané and Victor Wanyama look the most likely to go yet there has been no official word in either case as of yet. The striker position seems to be the one that bears the most problem coming into the second period with Shane Long offering reasonably good performance though perhaps not really fitting the mould. Sam Gallagher, who could be said to be more in the playstyle of Pellè, has been recalled from loan however and could be seen as a feature in future matches.
#SaintsFC can confirm @SamGallagher40 has been recalled from his loan spell at @MKDonsFC – https://t.co/53hO83bcMt pic.twitter.com/UgNQfss9Di
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) January 6, 2016
It is hard to see a replication of last year’s seventh place finish but also difficult to imagine a slide even further down the table from where they are now. It seems most likely that Southampton will consolidate themselves in mid-table position, maybe even rising up to 10th or so but ambitions of a return to the Europa League in 2016 seem a little farfetched.
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