Southampton 0-0 Burnley: Three key players – 12/08/18

Yesterday afternoon Southampton were held to a goalless stalemate by Burnley, in what was their first match of the 2018/19 season.

It wasn’t the result that the Saints’ supporters would’ve wanted, especially after the away side had traveled to Turkey on Thursday night to face Istanbul Basaksehir.

However, as ever, Sean Dyche’s side were organised and tough to break down – they totally limited the amount of involvement that Ryan Bertrand and Cedric Soares had as wing-backs and as a result Mark Hughes switched his side to a more generic 4-4-2 just before the hour. This was a a decision that was highly praised on Twitter.

Southampton saw four of their new players make their debuts with two of them coming off the bench at the same time as the tactical switch, which saw the home side enjoy some dominant spells although they ultimately couldn’t break the Clarets’ defence down.

Joe Hart, who joined Burnley last week, was particularly impressive following his £4 million move from Manchester City, despite struggling last season whilst on loan at West Ham.

But more importantly, what three Southampton players impressed the most in the entertaining stalemate?