After eight league games, Southampton move to the top of the Premier League table for the first time
in its history. In fact, they’ve not sat in pole position in England’s top-flight
since 1988. Ralph Hasenhuttl has created a team with a clearly designed set of
principles who are now playing excellent football.
Hasenhuttl, who rose to prominence with a press-heavy 4-3-3 at Ingolstadt,
worked out the key tenets of his approach at RB Leipzig,
where he instituted and refined the 4-2-2-2 that is now the template of his Southampton team.
The 4-2-2-2 is so called because the wide midfielders tuck inside
when Southampton are in possession and attacking. But to understand the system,
it’s worth observing the defence first and noticing how they participate in build-up.
Southampton are a surprisingly patient team in their own third.
Possession is circulated within the defence, with one of the midfielders often dropping in too.
Saints create a three-man line for ball circulation, whether by having a full back,
often Ryan Bertrand, holding a narrower, deeper position, or by via that deeper midfielder.
What’s interesting is how slowly this possession is moved. Southampton’s players are trusted to
rotate the ball between themselves, with Alex McCarthy also an option. For a high energy team in
transition and in the attacking third, Southampton are surprisingly methodical and patient.
The effect is twofold: firstly, the opposition can be drawn into pressing
and this disrupts their positioning, pulling them away from their own goal.
Secondly, it means that Southampton can shift gears and move the ball extremely quickly once
the opportunity arises. This change in pace is a damaging weapon, because it can catch
teams off-guard, especially as Southampton have genuine pace in Kyle Walker-Peters,
Theo Walcott, and the forward line particularly.
This ball progression tends to be in the form of looped-up passes towards the wide areas,
or quick, vertical progressions centrally.
Generally, though, Southampton want to take the ball wide to start with and then have runners
hitting the box at pace. This is why the team will often recycle the ball backwards even when in a
seemingly promising position. If the opposition are able to box Southampton in in the wide areas,
or make it hard to play through, then the side will pass it all the way back,
content to restart an attack from the base of the shape.
Should Southampton achieve a good attacking position, generated quickly enough to catch
the opposition out, then they look to create an overload in the box wherever possible.
This is why it’s common to see three or four players hitting the box in two waves
as the Southampton attacker in possession drives towards the area.
This overloading means that the box is congested, which makes defending hard,
creates difficulties for the opposition goalkeeper, and means that there are players
available for pull backs or to follow up if a shot is saved is blocked or spilled near the goal.
What is key is that if Southampton cannot attack with the required speed and achieve
these overloads, they will restart by going all the way the back. It’s
a very clear method which requires great patience and concentration,
seemingly at odds with the slightly helter-skelter reputation the team enjoy as a pressing side.
Southampton look to press specific passing lanes or receiving options. These are what Hasenhuttl
calls Southampton’s ‘automatisms’ and they might be the goalkeeper receiving a back pass,
the left centre back dwelling on the ball, or the full back accepting possession from a centre half.
Southampton want to stifle the opposition and win a turnover,
which is followed by the same overloading of the attacking zone
as is seen from controlled build-up. Or they want to force the opposition to hit rushed passes long,
where McCarthy or the centre backs can regain possession and restart the attack, or into
midfield, where an overhit pass provides the chance to press and transition straight to attack.
Mis-controls in the midfield area are pounced upon, with the strikers
dropping off to prevent back-passes and the midfielders engaging the player in possession.
There are then a number of Southampton players in position to overload the attacking areas
while the opposition are on the back foot.
Southampton will also sometimes hit low percentage passes into the channels. What’s interesting
is that they actually hit a proportionally low number of long passes - those over 30 yards - but
make the highest number of ‘high’ passes, passes above shoulder height, in the league.
The benefit of shorter, higher passes is that – obviously - they can be run onto,
but they are also tricky for retreating defenders to control
and open up pressing opportunities for the team. But Southampton don’t just lump it up the pitch.
Those passes are controlled and careful, like everything else they try to do.
Southampton are a very intelligent footballing team, brilliantly coached by Ralph Hasenhuttl.
Their approach – energetic pressing, niggly fouls, careful build-up, and
rapidly overloading the attacking zone – is at once methodical and explosive. They
are an example of what a great coach can do to institute a style of play, and then make it work.