Tactics
With the exception of the Arsenal side of the 2003-04 season, every team will hit a stumbling block or two along the way. This season’s Southampton side is no different.
After a run of good results, things started to go pear-shaped half way through the season and the slide into the wrong half of the table commenced. A 1-0 home defeat by Stoke triggered a run of six winless games in all competitions before Saints stunned Arsenal 4-0 at St. Mary’s. Missing first choice striker Graziano Pelle through injury, Koeman elected to go with Shane Long leading the line, which completely changed the way Southampton play in the front third and a move which Arsene Wenger may not have seen coming.
Pelle is best described as a one-touch finisher and a target man who can hold the ball up well and bring support into play. In contrast, Long is a more mobile, agile type of striker who possesses good movement and pace to get in behind and exploit slow central defences. This is exactly what happened that night on the South Coast and Arsenal’s backline simply could not deal with this. On another day, Long could have scored more than a brace and made it an even more humiliating night for the Gunners.
Despite the drubbing of the title challengers, this proved to be a fleeting flash in the pan as they entered arguably their worst part of the season, suffering three straight disappointing defeats to West Ham, Norwich and Crystal Palace, respectively.
Fraser Forster then returned from a serious knee injury and combined with another stroke of tactical genius, arrested the slide and started the run which has taken them up the table to be among prestigious company. The gaffer decided to go with a three-man backline, bring in bit-part left-full-back Matt Targett as a wing-back, while allowing him as well as Soares to bomb up and down the line, assisting players in wide areas such as Tadic, Mane and Long to create an overload against the opposition full-backs.
In attack, this also allows the midfield to sit higher up the park to congest the space for opponents trying to play out and win the ball back close to the opposition box. Having three central men in defence acts as insurance should an attacking move break down when Targett and Soares are caught up-field. This tactic is typically deployed against ‘weaker’ opposition when Koeman feels his side will see the majority of territory and possession.
Koeman’s deviation from his preferred 4-2-3-1, as well as Forster’s six clean sheets on the bounce have seen Southampton take maximum points from Watford, West Brom, West Ham and Swansea since the run of the three straight defeats, keeping all of these sides to nil. With all-due respect, these are all sides Southampton must defeat if they plan to take the club to the next level. These victories plus a return of four points from trips to Old Trafford and the Emirates Stadium puts them in good stead for a Europa League berth, or even an unlikely tilt at fourth spot, should the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United continue to falter. The old adage ‘adapt or perish’ is being proved correct by the Saints boss.
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