Saints Marching
Fansided

Southampton 2018/19 Season Player Review: Ryan Bertrand

By Ryan Borowski

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 04: Ryan Bertrand of Southampton in action during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Southampton FC at Etihad Stadium on November 4, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 04: Ryan Bertrand of Southampton in action during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Southampton FC at Etihad Stadium on November 4, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The left-back was a pivotal part of the Saints success after Hasenhuttl was installed at the helm of Southampton Football Club and he returned from injury.

Bertrand missed a decent chunk of the season and during that time the club sacked Mark Hughes and installed Ralph and it seemed to have breathed new life into the 29-year-old defender.

He was requested film when he was still recovering so when he was fit enough to get back into the side he would not have missed a beat.

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 27: Ryan Bertrand of Southampton during the Premier League match between Southampton FC and Fulham FC at St Mary’s Stadium on February 27, 2019 in Southampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 27: Ryan Bertrand of Southampton during the Premier League match between Southampton FC and Fulham FC at St Mary’s Stadium on February 27, 2019 in Southampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images) /

Once he was ready to go in the new system it was easy to see how well hit fit in the wing-back position.

He seemed to thoroughly enjoy bombing forward and making runs on the outside of Redmond and getting the ball near the corner. Some of our most dangerous chances came from passes off his left boot.

More from Saints Marching

Many questioned how dedicated the Englishman still was to the squad and figured he would follow Cedric out the door but I think he quickly silenced the doubters once a competent manager was put in charge.

In 24 League appearances this season Ryan Bertrand averaged 1 key pass a match and completed an average of 32.2 passes a match. Defensively, he was good for 1.9 tackles per match to go with 1.2 interceptions and 1.8 clearances.

The numbers are not the flashiest but he did a lot of important things off the ball. Bertrand was seen constantly making runs past Redmond down the flank drawing a defender with him and even if he did not receive the ball the attention he drew opened up the pitch for other to make runs or for Redmond to take a defender on 1v1.

Bertrand is a senior leader of this team and his football IQ makes him hard to replace. If the club add youth to the squad over the summer Bertrand will be one of the guys who can show them the ropes and give them some tips they would not get from anywhere else.

Next. 5 Saints players who will be free to talk to other clubs after June. dark

I look forward to what he shows us next season.

Stats according to WhoScored.com