Following his demolition of south-coast rivals Portsmouth, Danny Ings showed immense promise as to what he can provide Southampton for the rest of this campaign; when his strengths are played to.
Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl toke the gamble in starting a 4-3-3 at Fratton Park, a system that he has barely tampered with in his time as the Saints’ boss; having favoured a two-up-top system or a five-at-the-back.
In the first 20 minutes of the game against the League One side, it looked like the gamble was not going to pay off; Pompey were very much on the front foot against Southampton and could have easily gone a couple goals up if the post and Alex McCarthy hadn’t come to the rescue.
But having weathered the storm and the expected onslaught, Hasenhuttl’s men started to grab a foothold in the crucial-must win game and the real difference maker was local-boy Danny Ings.
His goal on the stroke of the 21st minute wrote him into Southampton folklore, a great turn and finish, was mentioned to be a dream of the Winchester-born striker, and Ings capped off his performance with another goal and assist to be named POTM for Saints in the heated south-coast derby match.
This was down to the way in which Ings was utilised as a false-nine in the 4-3-3, very much playing to the strengths of the former-Liverpool star, in particular his through ball ability and defensive contribution.
From a tactical stand-point, playing in a slightly deeper role meant that the midfield had more cover centrally as Ings made two tackles during the game; as well Saints controlled the ball with a mighty 61.6% possession stat.
Granted, Portsmouth are not a Premier League standard side, and against more difficult opposition such as the upcoming game against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend; Hasenhuttl’s men won’t control the ball as much as they did in this League Cup fixture.
However, given the standard of ball retention against a south-coast rival, it shows how implementing Danny Ings in this way could provide Southampton with a better platform to nullify their opponents threats by keeping the ball for longer periods of time.
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In terms of going forward, and as mentioned; Ings provides good quality through balls, and therefore playing him deeper provides players such as Che Adams and Nathan Redmond the opportunity to be played in by the number nine.
To back up this line of thought, in the game at Fratton Park the striker provided one assist for an unlikely goalscorer in Cedric Soares, had a pass success percentage of 88%, was disposed once and completed one of Southampton’s seven dribbles; not crediting his assist as a completed dribble.
With this, playing in such a role also prevents the ‘derby hero’ from having to play to his weaknesses, in being redundant in his aerial ability; despite winning one header during the game, it prevents Saints losing the ball needlessly through this means of play and therefore focus on ball-retention.
Despite lack of evidence of Danny Ings thriving in this role against top-level opposition; Ralph Hasenhuttl should look to keep implementing the 4-3-3 with Southampton in their upcoming games against Tottenham and Chelsea.
In the game against Bournemouth, the Austrian-manager made the switch to this formation and was able to control the fixture more effectively. It could be argued that Danny Ings might have been the missing link in the system, as his late introduction into that game meant that the striker had an uphill battle to get the Saints back on level terms in limited time.
The system would seem to suit most players in the squad, to which these can go into more detail another time; however Ings must start against Spurs at the weekend as it would seem he could thrive and be influential for Southampton, but only time will tell.