After a poor start to the 2016-17 season, Southampton have recorded three wins in a row across all competitions.
It was not the start to the season Saints fans were hoping for with very little to excite coming from a disappointing draw at St Mary’s against Watford. Despite obvious changes at the club, such a strong showing the previous season meant expectations were high on the South Coast team.
The next three games made the situation seem all the worse after losses against Manchester United and Arsenal as well as a draw with Sunderland. The team showed, at best, flashes of quality and looked disjointed under new manager Claude Puel.
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The French coach seemed to have turned the corner though, leading his team to victory three consecutive times in the past week. First came the 3-0 win in the Europa League over Sparta Prague, then the 1-0 result against Swansea City in the league and finally a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup, all at St Mary’s.
All three were convincing victories with Saints deserving to have come out on top in the contests. The wins will lift pressure on Puel who has begun to face criticism after failing to continue to bring the high standards of previous manager Ronald Koeman.
With a match against another team that has struggled to come to life in 2016-17 in West Ham, the Saints have good opportunity to continue their winning ways. Who will make the lineup for the game is a difficult to predict with Puel’s rotation policy – he made eight changes for the cup game.
Where the problem lies
It was easy for anyone watching the opening fixtures to see that Southampton played in patches and were lacking a full 90 minute showing, but there was another glaring problem. Despite creating a host of chances, the Saints struggled to finish and even with last weekend’s win, have scored just four goals in five Premier League games.
Adopting a new 4-4-2 diamond and the introduction of a few new faces may have been to blame was the team not gelling, but the issue has been a lack of polish in the final third.
The Saints have had a total of 83 shots in all matches so far, the fifth most in the league. Of these 25, close to a third have been on target. Just 16% of those shots on target have been goals though, a worrying return when compared to the likes of Manchester City who score with almost every second shot on target (15 from 33).
Signs were troubling against the Swans with several good opportunities spurned before Charlie Austin was able to ripple the back of the net.
With such good delivery into the box, Southampton need players who can finish consistently from inside the area.
Chances are being created. Now, it seems only a matter of time until some clinical goalscoring form lifts the side.
With four goals in the past three games, Austin is putting his hand up to be that man.
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