Article written by OyVeh Maria.
We haven’t won the on the road since September! There is no doubt that the 4th January is high noon for Poch and the boys. It’s all very well Poch saying we are still in the race for the title but we now have to prove it, starting with Southampton then Watford and then turning it on at the Lane against Chelski. The 4th could be the defining game of the season for us and therefore a build-up of two more victories to that game will give us the momentum we need. We still remain unconvincing but we are still grinding out results. Despite dominating the Burnley game with 30 shots and 60% of possession we still only had 9 shots on target. We also went behind to a sloppy goal created by Walker losing the ball and leaving us having to quickly reshape. We subsequently failed to clear the ball even though we had several goes. We can’t afford to do that against the Saints.
Puel will be looking for high energy levels from his team to try and apply some early pressure on us his instinct is to dominate possession over every opponent, and with that comes the need to play from the back. Remember that Puel is a protégé of Wenger. Puel wasted no time putting his own stamp on the Saints team when he arrived getting rid of the 4-2-3-1 formation, which saw Koeman take Saints to sixth last season, and replacing it with a midfield 4-4-2 diamond; a four man defence, a deep lying midfielder, two central midfielders ahead of the DLM, a playmaker and two strikers. Saints like to keep the ball on the deck making simple triangle passes similar to the Wenger style and lots of high pressing when not in possession of the ball. Bournemouth were picked off too easily giving players like Jay Rodriguez too much time on the ball. We can’t afford to let Saints have time on the ball. We need to press their diamond formation and pull them out of shape. Therefore, expect Poch to set up a more defence minded team making it difficult for the Saints to operate in our 3rd in front of goal. Poch’s formation could be to out-number Saints in Midfield and stop the overlapping runs of Bertrand and Cedric, similar to what we did against the Gooners! So who will Poch pick? Winks alongside Wanyama with Dembele in behind Kane? Alli Eriksen but no Sissoko?
Sissoko has shown flashes of what he can do and on the face of it the right-hand side of our team should now be pretty formidable with the power of Siss and Walker attacking down it. Walker made 76 sprints at a top speed of 33.33 km/h - better than any other team-mate. His 87 touches on the ball and five key passes was more than any other player on the pitch, while also contributing three tackles. But Walker lost the ball twice early in the match and whilst Burnley did not score from the first break down they did from the second time he lost it! Walker is brilliant but he does have a habit of losing the ball whilst at speed. If Walker continues to play like this though, with Sissoko as right guard, we must have a really potent threat on the right for the rest of the season.
The emphasis on Walker and Rose as our goal threat grows, in fact, it’s almost becoming a reliance. What happens if either Rose or Walker get crocked? Does Poch have a problem? Burnley doubled up on our full backs and it seemed to work to a point so expect Puet to do the same. Walker and Rose spent more time in the Burnley half of the pitch than in their own, normally Poch does not like both full backs up the pitch at the same time but it worked for Burnley but maybe not for St Mary’s. That’s why I can see Sissoko’s being played for this one to shift the ball further up the field, break tackles and open up the game to Kane and Alli. Danny Rose could do with a bit more of a speed buddy on his side, although Eriksen and Kane are doing a lot of work in the channels for him, Rose has to work harder. Against Burnley Rose put in eleven crosses, the most of any player, whilst also creating three chances, making six take-on’s, one tackle and two interceptions and a goal.
Southampton have struggled this season to score. Charlie Austin is out for months and that means everyone is looking to Rodriguez to find his form. Puel has done what Koemen did before, taking over a squad stripped of its best players and turning it again into a competitive outfit. In fact Puel has got the Saints 3 points and 5 places higher than Koeman did at the same stage last year. Southampton are short on goals but now Jay Rods is back and so their hunger in front of goal should be too. But, Puel’s men have to play three times in six days on account of our Boxing Day fixture being moved to 28 December so it can be televised. They also host West Bromwich Albion on New Year’s Eve before travelling to face Everton on 2 January. This is a chance for Puel to see if his team are improving against a top 5 club. For us this is a result game, winnable, but once again against a team that is organised and has a lot of talent front to back.
