Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men have only scored one goal in their last three Premier League games. This despite outplaying their opponents on many occasions, Southampton also look toothless at times.
It could be considered a harsh opinion, after all Southampton are enjoying one of the best starts to a Premier League campaign in the last few years – having secured 25 points after 15 games and having won seven of them.
However there has been a running theme so far this campaign in terms of how the Saints have been scoring to win mentioned games. Southampton have scored 25 goals so far in the current campaign, to which places them eight overall in the Premier League scoring table, so what gives?
Well ten on those goals have come from either set-pieces such as corners and free-kicks or penalties (40%), it’s great that the team is able to execute these opportunities to such effect, however it would seem that on numerous occasions this has been the real make or break in tight games.
Examples of this would be Brighton, where Jamnik Vestergaard scored from a corner and Danny Ings a penalty. Two goals against Manchester United, one a free-kick and a corner which gave Saints a fighting chance in said game. But most notably the 4-3 win against Aston Villa where Saints scored from two free-kicks via James Ward-Prowse and a Jannik Vestergaard header from a corner.
Chance Creation
In terms on key chances produced in games, Southampton majorly lack compared to other teams in similar Premier League positions – this could be considered concerning.
Striker Che Adams leads the way for Saints with seven key chances produced, sitting him 5th overall in the league for said stat – however the next highest for Hasenhuttl’s men would be Oriol Romeu at two, sitting him outside the top 50 for key chances created in the league.
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With this, James Ward-Prowse sits top of the team’s key passes produced at 1.7pg (per game), whilst Che Adams sits at 1.3pg, with all other players sitting at less than one key pass per game.
This could suggest that players such as Stuart Armstrong and Theo Walcott are underperforming in creating chances from open-play, again as mentioned it could be considered a harsh opinion – however it would seem to be the only weakness that this likeable Southampton squad has.
However, the only aspect that could go against this point is Southampton’s tactical approach, which seems to have switched to a patient style over the past couple of months. The Saints have kept on average a possession stat of 53.5%, as well they sit 6th in the Premier League table for passes, suggesting that players are more drilled into keeping the ball where necessary and therefore being less direct.
In the same breath, Southampton also sit 4th for long balls played in the Premier League, though this would suggest that the focus is on pumping the ball into the box quickly when the opportunity arises and therefore a lack of emphasis is put on utilising the wide players such as Stuart Armstrong and Theo Walcott.
In the long run, it means that to sustain a high position in the Premier League, the Saints will need to ensure that they are highly clinical when chances arise, failure to do so will result in lacking of winning games which has been the theme of the past three Premier League games.