Looking back to Gameweek 10 of the Premier League, most eyes were on the big six fixture of the weekend, Tottenham at Anfield to face Liverpool. However, the result of the week came a couple of days earlier, when Leicester City travelled to St. Marys and tore Southampton apart for the ninety minutes. The final score was 0-9 and Southampton were left shocked, embarrassed, and slightly confused as to what just happened. The match solidified Southampton as relegation candidates at the time, as post-match they found themselves in 18th place and with the lowest goal difference in the league at -16.
Fast forward to the present, and Southampton are in 12th place. A huge turnaround that puts them five points clear of the relegation zone, and unless a major turn of events happens, Southampton will likely be in the Premier League come next season. So what changed? It was not luck Southampton were not suddenly gaining points despite being the worse team, nor have they been reliant on other teams dropping points around them in order to further move up in the table. Ralph Hasenhüttl has quickly found a way to fix the problems that were occurring that led up to the 0-9 loss and has found a way to maximise the output of several of his players in a new system. This tactical analysis will be a team scout report showcase on what Hasenhüttl has changed in order for them to be safe from relegation for now.
Formation Change
Prior to the 0-9 demolition, Hasenhüttl was often tinkering with formations, both in-match, as in switching formations during matches when substituting players, and from match to match, as in it was almost impossible to guess how Southampton would set up before the teamsheets came out each week. After the Leicester City loss, it took two matches for Hasenhüttl to revert to what he is known for: his 4-4-2. Since Southamptons match against Arsenal (two game-weeks after the Leicester City match), Hasenhüttl started 100% of Southamptons matches with the 4-4-2 formation and has only done in-game changes on two instances, versus Norwich, in the last five minutes to hold on to a lead, and versus West Ham in the last ten minutes to chase a point.
That means in the nine matches that Hasenhüttl has used the 4-4-2, Southampton have managed to pick up 17 points an unbelievable turnaround.
The 4-4-2 has been Hasenhüttls preferred formation since his stint with RB Leipzig, where he took the newly promoted club at the time and had them play an attractive brand of football that was stable and allowed them to flourish in the Bundesliga, even to this day as they currently sit at the top of the Bundesliga table, ahead by two points.
His 4-4-2 somewhat resembles a 4
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