This midweek had some cup matches across Europe, so we picked the clash between Southampton and West Ham United on Wednesday night as the topic of this tactical analysis.
At the St Mary’s Stadium, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s team progressed with a 3-1 victory. Intriguingly, by the time the lineups were announced, almost everyone, from fans to pundits, believed David Moyes’ Hammers could walk away with a win easily given Southamptons starting XI. Surprisingly, the hosts showed incredible courage throughout the game and booked the place in the next FA Cup round.
The game was not as easy as the scoreline suggested. In the beginning, West Ham gained the upper hand with tactics superior to the opponents, but the Saints adapted and played better as the game continued. This analysis will explain how Southampton gradually nullified the threat of the opponent in open plays.
Lineups
People were concerned about the Southampton lineup for good reasons, even Hasenhüttl himself admitted some players did not have the rhythm, so they needed this game to recharge the likes of Shane Long and Will Smallbone. There were a total of nine players rotated compared to the last Premier League game, only James Ward-Prowse and Kyle Walker-Peters started in the Norwich win.
West Ham, by contrast, came with a very strong squad that helped them challenge the top four in these two seasons. Moyes only made two changes, one of them was to start Alphonse Areola over Łukasz Fabiański, and the other one was replacing Aaron Cresswell with Issa Diop. The rest were starting in the Wolves win.
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