Southampton: What’s happened with Stuart Armstrong?

After emerging as perhaps Southampton’s best player from pre-season, Armstrong has struggled to hold down a regular place in the Premier League.

In fact, the Scot was left out of the Saints squad for the game against Brighton entirely, and didn’t make an appearance against Crystal Palace either – the last time he played more than a cameo role in the league this season was the Burnley game on the opening weekend. So what’s going on with the summer signing?

Steven Davis occupied his spot on the bench against Brighton and came on as well as the Seagulls scored in injury time to bring the game back level. Many questioned why the Northern Irishman was included and subbed on as he probably lacks match fitness.

One obvious answer for this was that the Southampton captain was apparently set for talks for Mark Hughes regarding his lack of playing time, as the Carabao Cup win over the Seagulls was previously the only match he’d featured in. Perhaps, despite seeming very rigid, Hughes may of bowed to player power or at least offered Davis a chance to prove himself.

Granted, the 33-year-old played well for his side over the international break but when the Saints are up against it in the dying embers of a must-win game, you don’t want to throw someone in who has barely played this season.

Furthermore another reason which could explain the 26-year-old’s absence could be the switch in formation. After rotating between a 3-4-2-1 and 3-5-2 almost exclusively in pre-season, it was binned after just over 45 minutes in the Premier League for a 4-4-2.

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The only games Armstrong has started was in the 3-5-2 in that match against Burnley on the opening day, and when Mark Hughes experimented with a 4-2-3-1 in the Carabao Cup win over Brighton. Either side of that we’ve seen him limited to just ten minutes of involvement.

Granted, despite his energy levels, the ex-Celtic man doesn’t possess a great defensive game and therefore having him occupy a role in a midfield two wouldn’t be wise – he’d need to play in at least a three or in his natural CAM position we’ve seen him play in those two aforementioned starts.

However if Southampton’s back-up plan was always to play 4-4-2 it begs the question why they signed such a one-dimensional player? It’s not a massive draw-back or criticism of Armstrong’s game, but if the Saints are to stick with this two-striker formation we’re unlikely to see the £7 million arrival get much more than cameo appearances.

This would be more understandable if he was a younger talent or hadn’t shown some serious potential, but in pre-season he exceeded all expectations with an assist on his debut and then a really smart goal against Celta Vigo – he seemed a shoe-in for the first team at one point.

As it stands Danny Ings seems to be flourishing off of a partnership with Shane Long despite the latter’s lack of personal goal threat – if that remains the case then it may be a while before we see Stu in the starting XI again. All we can say if if he does get his chance – perhaps in the Carabao Cup again – then he simply has to put in a MOTM performance.