Why are Southampton struggling defensively in 2015-16?

For a side that conceded just 33 goals last season, a rate of less than a goal a game, Southampton have started the 2015-16 season worryingly shaky at the back.

Five goals conceded in their first two games is a drastic contrast to their impressive defensive record last season and those concessions have come against teams who are not exactly known as being prolific scorers.

The Saints’ opening game of the season was a 2-2 draw with Newcastle at St James’ Park and it was the better performance of the two matches so far defensively. The side looked comfortable in terms of structure. Rather, it was some individual errors that made the back four look vulnerable. Some poor touches on the ball from Maya Yoshida threatened to allow Newcastle’s attacking players to gain possession in dangerous areas and José Fonte seemed to lose track of his man on separate occasions.

The second round fixture ended in a 3-0 loss for the home side and, despite the scoreline, was not a significantly worse performance than the previous week, but it further demonstrated the issues that came to the fore in the Newcastle game. Yoshida seemed surprisingly timid going into some challenges, too easily shrugged off by the attacking players. Fonte seemed unable to handle the movement and rotation of the Everton players in the attacking third.

It is not all doom and gloom on the South Coast – far from it. Aside from a mere handful of instances, from which they were punished, the Newcastle wingers and full-backs were hardly able to put any meaningful balls into the box from the flanks. When the more dangerous-looking crosses were whipped in, the defenders dealt with almost all of them convincingly.

Against the Toffees, the Saints’ defence practically closed out the attackers in the second period of play, bar Ross Barkley’s goal. On multiple occasions, Fonte and Yoshida stifled the counter-attacks of the likes of Barkley and Romelu Lukaku, not allowing the pacier forwards room enough to beat them whilst the left and right-backs cut off any possible passes out wide. Southampton’s defence is far from leading management or supporters to panic stations but would beg keener observers to wonder what happened to the unit that seemed, at times, impenetrable last season.

The contributing source that led to such strong performances being delivered defensively, now lacking, may be the players the club has lost during the offseason. The man who partnered captain Fonte at the heart of defence in 2014-15, Toby Alderweireld, has joined Tottenham after attempts to make his loan stay permanent fell through.

With Alderweireld playing, Southampton conceded 20 goals in 26 and just 17 in the 20 that he played as a central-defender, rates of 0.88 and 0.85 respectively. Gaining his position as starter over Yoshida, the Belgian added great talent to the centre of defence.

The other, and perhaps more significant, loss to the Saints’ defence was Morgan Schneiderlin. Whilst operating in midfield, the Frenchman added as much to the strong defensive record as anyone in the squad. Sitting in front of the back four, Schneiderlin choked up the midfield channel, disallowing playmakers the time and space to distribute the ball as they would like. When wingers made cutting runs inside the defensive midfielder, he would come across to force the winger to play back and not overload the central-defensive players.

Schneiderlin was one of the best in the league in making the gap between midfield and defence as small as possible, ensuring opponents played inside that most dangerous area of the park. Similarly to Alderweireld, Schneiderlin boasts a record of just 20 goals conceded in his 26 appearances last season.

A quality he brought to the side that the Belgian centre-half did not, however, was his ability on the ball. Schneiderlin’s distribution quickly and effectively played the ball away from the Saints’ defensive areas and allowed relief of pressure on his back four. Victor Wanyama and Steven Davis, who have been Ronald Koeman’s picks to occupy the two central-midfield positions in the opening two games, have not yet offered the quality in attack or defence that the outgoing man did. Star import Jordy Clasie would seem certain to be first choice to line up in midfield, yet he too would not seem to contribute defensively what the now-Manchester United man did.

Another key man in Southampton’s defensive record last season, which saw only Chelsea concede fewer goals, is Fraser Forster. Before his injury in the latter stages of last season, the former Celtic custodian was in impressive form and conceded a mere 21 goals in his 30 starts, including 14 clean sheets, a rate 0.7 goals against a game or one goal conceded every 125 minutes. Numbers like these would lead every Southampton fan to hope for the shot-stopper’s speedy recovery.

Regardless of the differences between last season’s squad and this season’s, Koeman will be demanding improved defensive play from his side. A rate of 2.5 goals conceded a game would be certain to see a side finish in the relegation zone and the Dutch manager will be pressing his side to become a tighter unit with more telling tests to come this season.