Southampton 0-0 West Ham: Saints Player Ratings after gritty draw

Alex McCarthy – 7

Preferred to Fraser Forster who seems likely to run his contract down at St Mary’s, McCarthy looked confident in the first half, illustrated by claiming some useful looking crosses in assertive fashion. Whilst McCarthy’s distribution was characteristically uninspiring, there did at least seem a sense of purpose to release the ball quickly. This was at times hindered by a lack of movement from the players in front of him and until the appearance of Broja from the bench, there was often very little to aim for.

A decent save in the 67th minute from a well hit Bowen volley was a rare moment of activity for McCarthy in an otherwise quiet second half. A much needed clean sheet, just the second in 26 matches will bring confidence for a keeper often under the microscope.

Romain Perraud – 6.5

The French left back got into promising positions in the first half and looked to link up with Djenepo whenever possible. An unfussy performance from a player previously dropped for Walker-Peters, will be a sound reminder to Hasenhuttl of the merits of playing players in their favoured position and side. Some useful bursts of pace did well to nullify the threat offered by Bowen.

Mohammed Salisu – 7.5

Defensively Salisu was outstanding, putting himself in the thick of the action and working well in tandem with Stephens to win the physical battle with Antonio. His positioning was excellent and the Ghanaian centre back won most of his aerial engagements.

That said, there is still plenty of room for improvement for a player who has impressed since his arrival on the South Coast. His passing remains on occasions erratic and there were times against West Ham where he dwelled slightly too long on the ball.

Jack Stephens – 8

Another excellent performance from Stephens since his return to the side and on this showing, it is hard to see Bednarek or Lycanp getting a look in. Stephens has always been a confidence player and this was evident in the way he marshalled the Southampton back four.

Increasingly confident on the ball, he was also willing to carry the ball into the midfield and his distribution released some of the pressure on Romeu and subsequently, Ward-Prowse. Aside from riling Antonio, he was a calm presence throughout and a key factor in securing a share of the spoils.

Tino Livramento – 7

Whilst not his strongest showing in his relatively brief Southampton career to date, there was a lot to like about Livramento’s willingness to break forward and his direct style of running was in stark contrast to the hesitancy of Redmond in front of him. A few errant passes aside, he was one of Southampton’s biggest threats, especially when he sought to cut inside, leaving the opposition uncertain about who should be marking him.

He was caught out of position defensively by Benhrama on a couple of occasions but Livramento’s pace was always sufficient to recover. If anything, there were times where the England under 21 international was counter attacking too rapidly for his colleagues but Hasenhuttl will want to continue encouraging his young ward to break quickly.