Southampton mastering themselves to master the enemy

The 9–0 loss Southampton endured last season seems far away now as they sit top of the Premier League, if only for a day. Like any form of resurrection, there were certain guidelines that Ralph Hasenhuettl and the players had to follow.

Their rebirth saw them rise from the darkness of the relegation spots to mid table safety. The pressing and wing-play were key, but there was a third element that Southampton hadn’t mastered to the fullest then. The rotational attackers.

The shape Southampton start with is pretty much the same every game, but in football it has never been about the static shape. It’s the movements and principles that dictate the shape.

Watching Friday’s match against Newcastle United, there were two attacks that fully encapsulated Southampton’s effectiveness in rotating their players, to move the opponent around and exploit the space.

The first is early in the second half. Stuart Armstrong, who on paper is a right winger, moved inside to position himself behind Newcastle’s midfield three. He isn’t causing a threat for now though as there is no passing angle into him. Moving inside left space on the right, which James Ward-Prowse saw and moved there as Kyle Walker-Peters dribbled inside.

Walk-Peters then found Oriol Romeu, and now the harmless positions of Ward-Prowse and Armstrong are now harmful as only a simple pass is needed to reach them. Both are free behind Newcastle’s midfield and in positions that is the reverse of the norm.

Romeu chose neither. He opted to play the ball into the dropping Theo Walcott who dragged Federico Fernandez with him all the way to the center of the pitch. Jamal Lascelles here is trying to move out to mark Armstrong, but this causes two problems for him and Newcastle. It disorients Newcastle’s defensive line and with Lascelles moving forward towards Armstrong, a ball behind him would give a head-start for Armstrong whose body is in a rest position. Therefore, Armstrong doesn’t need to change directions unlike Lascelles.

And this is exactly what happens once Ward-Prowse receives the ball from Walcott. The disoriented back line plays Che Adams onside and the initial positioning of Armstrong and his body shape allows him to easily run past Lascelles. The rotations of the Southampton attackers had a domino effect. Walcott disoriented the Newcastle line by dropping, Ward-Prowse moved wide right to the free space allowing him to play this pass, and Armstrong’s initial inside movement allowed him to make this run in the space Walcott vacated.

Had Adams played Armstrong instead of Moussa Djenepo, the goal would have presented a perfect exhibition of the rotations that Southampton do.

The second is later in that half. From a goal-kick, both Walcott and Adams dropped and linked with each other to find Armstrong and Nathan Redmond who were attacking the central space.

In a role reversal, Armstrong and Redmond acted as the central forwards. And to go a full cycle, Walcott was attacking the wide area as an onrushing winger. Armstrong’s pass was a bit short here, making it harder for Walcott to double the lead.

But the rotations weren’t all ineffective. In the lead up to Southampton’s first goal against Everton, the switch between Armstrong and Ward-Prowse leaves the Everton midfield in awe. At first, both are in their normal positions…

…then once they switch, they leave Alex Iwobi and Gylfi Sigurdsson for dead. Ward-Prowse was now free to receive the ball from the throw-in.

Afterwards, he found Danny Ings and then fully completed Armstrong’s role by making a run into the box. Ings found him back and it was 1–0 to Southampton. The simplest of role reversals gave Southampton the lead.

The second against Everton was also based on the same principle. It started with Redmond dragging Ben Godfery inside Southampton’s half…

….which led to this scenario. Ings moved wide left to attack the space Godfery left, Armstrong moved inside to keep the central threat inside the box, and finally Ward-Prowse was attacking the far side of the pitch. One fundamental aspect that complements Southampton’s rotations and their effectiveness is that they always ensure to attack multiple vertical lanes at the same time.

Ings managed to cross it towards the far post, but it was Adams rather than Ward-Prowse that scored. The three highlighted players here, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong and Redmond are in unorthodox positions but they are there for a reason. Armstrong was providing a threat towards the near post, freeing the far post for Adams. Ward-Prowse was providing a far post threat in case Adams didn’t arrive. And Redmond was covering for Ward-Prowse in midfield, ready to start the pressing in case Southampton lost the ball.

The final goal that illustrates the rotations is Ings’ stunner against Aston Villa. Similar to the first chance against Newcastle, Armstrong moves inside with Ward-Prowse being the widest player on the right. Ward-Prowse found Armstrong, bypassing the Villa press.

The presence of Armstrong and Waclottt centrally forces Villa’s damaged back line to keep horizontal compactness, leaving space out wide for Ings to exploit. The space between Ings and Matty Cash allowed Ings to shoot without any kind of pressure, finding the top far corner and making it 4–0 before Villa came back into the game.

The rotations aren’t something new, Hasenhuettl’s side has been doing it since last season. It’s mastering them that has showed how effective they are in Southampton’s attacks.

Like most things in life, a primitive operation might seem useless at the beginning but once mastered and scaled its power then becomes limitless.