Southampton: What Ralph Hasenhuttl must sort before Saints face Liverpool this weekend

BURNLEY, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: Ralph Hasenhuttl, Manager of Southampton looks on prior to during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Southampton FC at Turf Moor on August 10, 2019 in Burnley, United Kingdom. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
BURNLEY, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: Ralph Hasenhuttl, Manager of Southampton looks on prior to during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Southampton FC at Turf Moor on August 10, 2019 in Burnley, United Kingdom. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) /
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Southampton will be looking to bounce back from a 3-0 defeat to Burnley this weekend, but things aren’t going to get easier for them.

Last season’s runners-up in the Premier League in Liverpool arrive at St Mary’s on Saturday and looked in rampant form in their opening win over Norwich City.

The real area that should have been focused on this week by Saints is the defensive unit of five.

Against Burnley, this included Yan Valery, Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens, Jannik Vestergaard and Ryan Bertrand, but they didn’t work well at all as a back-line.

The likes of Ashley Barnes and Johann Gudmundsson really took advantage of this with the second-half goals that they scored.

BURNLEY, ENGLAND – AUGUST 10: Johann Berg Gudmundsson of Burnley scores his team’s third goal during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Southampton FC at Turf Moor on August 10, 2019 in Burnley, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
BURNLEY, ENGLAND – AUGUST 10: Johann Berg Gudmundsson of Burnley scores his team’s third goal during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Southampton FC at Turf Moor on August 10, 2019 in Burnley, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) /

Vestergaard was the culprit for the opening strike when he missed his header after a long ball forward and allowed Barnes to break through and score.

However, it was noticeable how stretched the defensive line was as Bertrand and Valery advanced up the pitch in the previous phase of play. Both wing-backs are expected to join attacks but it appeared that they had squeezed up without the other defenders.

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Communication was the issue with the second of Ashley Barnes’ goals. The striker was able to just stroll into the gap between Bertrand and Vestergaard unchallenged and volley in at the back post.

Looking back at this, Bertrand should have tucked inside more and told Vestergaard that Barnes was behind him, whilst the Dane should have also realised that he wasn’t marking anyone.

Then to cap things off, Bertrand lost a poor challenge that let Johann Gudmundsson through on goal to score and round off a comprehensive win for his side.

A look back at stats from the game also showed that Saints had won just seven out of 21 tackles during the 90 minutes, whilst Burnley had won 21 out of 27.

Against the Clarets, Saints were up against a hard-working and effective attack, but versus Liverpool they will be up against some of the best players in the Premier League.

Roberto Firmino will be looking to drag the central defenders around to create gaps for both Sadio Mane and Mo Salah to exploit.

Therefore, it will be vital that Saints are more switched on defensively and that their back line works together. If they make the same mistakes that they did at Turf Moor, they could be in trouble against Jurgen Klopp’s men.

Next. Saints vs Liverpool: Preview and Predictions. dark