Southampton v Wolves: Inside track on the Saints
Wolves do battle with Southampton this weekend, hoping to get back to winning ways in the top flight.
To get a better look at The Saints, we spoke with Steve Grant, owner of Saintsweb.co.uk and Ben Stanfield, host of the Total Saints Podcast.
See what they had to say about the game here...
It seems to have been quite a season for Southampton so far, how have things gone since these sides last met in October?
BS: Football is a game of clichés – but the season so far has been a ‘game of two halves’ for Saints! Despite playing well away all season, we’d been struggling badly at home (worse form in the league) prior to beating Norwich in mid-November.
Since then, both at St. Mary’s and away, we’ve been on fire! 20 points from a possible 30 over Christmas/the start of January has meant we’re now looking up the table rather than down!
SG: Things got a whole lot worse, with THAT game against Leicester, but then came an international break a couple of weeks later which allowed everyone to take stock and assess how we were going to get out of the mess we’d created for ourselves.
Ralph Hasenhüttl decided that he was going to go back to the 4-2-2-2 system that he’d implemented occasionally last season to reasonable success, with a much higher press, and that combined with a much kinder run of fixtures has allowed us to somehow get into a position ten games later where we’re only four points off sixth place!
The Saints looked done for at one point this season, what's been the catalyst to turn them around?
BS: After the catastrophe against Leicester, and then losing to Everton, Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted that the ‘reset button’ needed to be pressed by everyone in and around the first-team squad – including himself.
They went away, reverted to four at the back (having played five for most of the season), dropped some of the players who weren’t performing, included some with a point to prove and we’ve not looked back!
The two main catalysts have been Danny Ings and James Ward-Prowse. Ahead of Wolves, Ings has scored 10 Premier League goals in 10 Premier League starts, while Ward-Prowse, having moved into a central midfield position, has been the energy/heartbeat of the side – running more than any other player in the Premier League (to date).
SG: The scale of that Leicester defeat and performance was the key – I think if we’d only been beaten 3-0 by what was a very good Leicester side at the time, perhaps there wouldn’t have been the urgency to make wholesale changes.
Five players who started that night have barely played a minute in the Premier League since, and we’re second in the form table over the last ten games, so it’s certainly made a difference.
What sort of football can we expect to see at St Mary's this weekend from the Saints?
BS: The ‘high-press’ seems to be back – along with a lot more confidence. So I’d say Wolves should expect lots of energy and aggression from Saints. We don’t naturally score that many early goals, but we like to try and start pressing as soon as we can and encourage mistakes. Wolves will need to be aware of that.
SG: We appear to be relatively unbothered about having the ball at our feet for long periods of time, so I wouldn’t expect too much slow build-up play from the back – we’ll probably look to get the ball forward fairly quickly, and even if we don’t retain possession immediately, we’ll then press quickly to win it back in the opposition half, which allows us to then get into a shooting position within a few seconds.
Whether the Wolves set-up allows us to do this exactly as we’d like, I’m not too sure, as I think they’ll be fairly happy to sit back themselves and try to hit us on the break. It’s possible that we end up cancelling each other out in that regard.
Danny Ings has been one man talked about recently in regards an England call-up for the Euros, how good has he been this season?
BS: It’s been ‘Roy of the Rovers’ stuff to be honest! Danny is, of course, a local lad and Saints fan, so he plays with his heart on his sleeve at all times.
His goals – which have come in a variety of forms – have won us many points and, should an England call-up come, it’ll be well deserved.
SG: Since he took control of that position around the time of the reverse fixture at Molineux, he’s been excellent.
His chance conversion statistics are ridiculous, and that’s from a relatively low number of chances too. We’ve become better in an attacking sense as we’ve gained confidence in recent weeks, and he could/should have had a hat-trick in that revenge win at Leicester last week, but he’s been the main man for some time now.
Unless he suddenly tails off or gets injured, I find it hard to believe he won’t be in that England squad in March, and if Harry Kane remains injured then he’s surely got his name pencilled in for the Euros in the summer too.
What's your predicted line-up for Southampton this weekend?
BS: Injuries this week allowing, I’d say Alex McCarthy, Cedric Soares, Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens, Ryan Bertrand, James Ward-Prowse, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Nathan Redmond, Stuart Armstrong, Shane Long and Danny Ings.
SG: 4-2-2-2: McCarthy; Cedric, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand; Højbjerg, Ward-Prowse; Armstrong, Redmond; Long, Ings.
Are there any injuries at St Mary's? Who's likely to miss out?
BS: Obviously I’m replying to this a few days before the game, but at the moment only Yan Valery (our young backup right-back) is likely to be out.
SG: No injury concerns at the moment, although you never quite know until the manager’s press conference the day before, so I think we go in with a full bill of health this weekend.
What have you made of Wolves this season? Do you think they have what it takes to potentially break into the top six this season?
BS: Wolves have done really well, especially given all their Premier League and Europa League commitments. The win against Manchester City recently was very well deserved – and doing the double over the Champions is something everyone at Molineux should be incredibly proud of.
I think they’ll just miss out on the top six this season, but it’ll likely be a very successful 10 months to look back on by the time May comes.
SG: Wolves have seemed to be a bit of a funny side this season, obviously had two great performances and results against Man City, but most of the time when I’ve watched them they’ve flattered to deceive a little bit.
Whether that’s the extra games with the Europa League taking its toll or a few injuries to key players having a big impact, I’m not sure, but they’ve been a lot harder to predict this season as a result.
They certainly could get into the top six, but it’ll probably require a bit of luck with injuries as Nuno has a very small squad at his disposal, while the other likely candidates have far more options to pick from.
It seems fairly extraordinary that if we win this game we’ll go level on points, considering the perceived fortunes over the season so far!
Your match prediction?
BS: I think the game could go genuinely go either way, so lets say 1-1!
SG: Gut feel is that I fancy us to sneak it.
Not sure it’ll be as open as last year’s game was, but I reckon Wolves legs might be a bit fatigued from the cup replay at Old Trafford. 2-1 Saints win.
