Southampton vs. Man U
Venue: St. Mary’s Stadium
Kick off: 12:30PM
Southampton host Manchester United at St Mary’s in the Premier League this afternoon as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men seek to take advantage of the Red Devils’ shock defeat to Crystal Palace last weekend.
The hosts will feel confident of causing an upset against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side after giving Liverpool a late scare in their last home league game, while United must see this game as an opportunity to demonstrate some maturity in the final third.
For the first part of the 2018-19 campaign, the Saints appeared to be genuine candidates for relegation as they languished at the foot of the Premier League table before Mark Hughes was eventually replaced by Hasenhuttl in December, setting in motion an uptick in form which ensured that the club finished last season five points clear of safety.
The former RB Leipzig boss has injected a new spirit and angle of vision since joining Southampton, encouraging full-backs to play a shaping role in attacks and championing technical players such as Nathan Redmond and James Ward-Prowse, playing the pair in a more central role from which to construct attacks.
Some have compared Hasenhuttl’s general approach to that of Jurgen Klopp’s “heavy metal” philosophy, and while that tempo and thrust did not always manifest itself last season, there is something quite stirring about when all the moving parts combine to pick apart teams with precise counterattacks. Home wins over Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur served as examples of this method paying off over the past year.
However, although Southampton’s attacking prowess has improved since Hughes departed, question marks remain over the discipline of their back four, which not too long ago contained established talents like Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk.
The side now has a young defence, with full-backs Kevin Danso and Yan Valery – the latter scored a stunning goal at Old Trafford last season – both aged just 20 and Jan Bednarek relatively inexperienced having only made 24 appearances in the league for Southampton since joining the club two years ago.
Meanwhile, if the opening weekend 4-0 win over Chelsea served as an example of what this young United team could offer further down the line, the defeat at home to Palace was a scathing indicator of where they are now.
The attack, although often dangerous on the counter, once again came up short against a team playing a low block deep in its own half, with Solskjaer’s men unable to engineer the pace and execution needed to create clear openings in a congested box.
Indeed, while the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial and Daniel James have all looked lethal breaking on opponents, their lack of sophisticated decision making at close-quarters is a big concern, and one which has loomed over the club since the days of Louis van Gaal.
Solskjaer desperately needs the aforementioned quartet, along with the youthful exuberance of Mason Greenwood and Angel Gomes, to start hitting their rhythm soon due to the simple fact that he has no other options to call on, with Romelu Lukaku joining Inter Milan and Alexis Sanchez on the verge of heading in the same direction.
United’s defence, on the other hand, appears to be making some progress following years of chopping and changing under previous administrations. Solskjaer has made his vision very clear: a back four containing Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw, while the likes of Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are being slowly phased out.
Should they produce a similarly authoritative defensive display, United will fancy their chances of frustrating the hosts and finding gaps through which to feed attacking players after Southampton commit players forward, as Hasenhuttl will expect them to do.
United have still not won an away game since that famous night in Paris back in March, and Solskjaer will know that failing to end that poor run – seven games in total – this weekend will only intensify talk surrounding United’s struggles after just four league games.
Southampton possible XI: Gunn, Valery, Bednarek, Vestegaard, Bertrand, Romeu, Hojberg, Ward-Prowse, Boufal, Adams, Ings.
Man U possible XI: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Young, McTominay, Pogba, Pereira, Lingard, James, Rashford.