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It was yet another case of deja vu at St Mary’s.
Facing the same side twice in the space of four days, first in the FA Cup and then the league. Like last time, the initial fixture was smooth sailing, an assumed building block to reset their campaign.
And like last time, the second game also found them taking the lead. The opening goal was a good start, an early vindication that momentum had continued from the previous encounter.
Then, as if a small deck of cards had succumbed to a light breeze, they lost. Another league game where they had been winning and seemingly in control. “I saw 60 minutes that were clear on the win,” Ralph Hasenhuttl said afterwards.
So, if everything was going to the perfect paradigm, why did Southampton end losing yet another rematch in the space of four days?
This season, Southampton have dropped 16 points from winning positions. Had they accrued all of those points, they would be in fourth place. Heck, even if they only managed to collect half of that total, they might be in seventh or eighth.
But instead, they are in 13th position. 13 is often referred to as the unlucky number, an adage that can be traced back to the concept of the Last Supper. For Hasenhuttl and Southampton, 13 is not just the unlucky number. Right now, it’s becoming the defining one.
Rather than a season buzzing with ambition and hope of a European finish, Saints are now gaping downwards, fraught with trepidation and a sense of injustice. Only four points separate them and 17th position, albeit with a game in hand.
Defeat against Wolves set a new club precedent of six straight Premier League losses. The gloom-ridden record is mystifying as many around the club as it is supporters. It is somewhat offbeat and frankly bizarre that a team, which has displayed such tangible progression along with a pre-eminent coach likely to go on to bigger things, find themselves bearing a record that so many poorer Southampton teams failed to do.
But, again, this is a season like no other. It’s quirky, concurrently paradoxical and throws out all the realms of normality. And on Sunday, Southampton were given another chastening reminder that right now, most things don’t seem to go to plan.
The first half of the Wolves game provided a fleeting sense of rationality. Saints had returned to their fundamental basics and were making minor but effectual tactical adjustments throughout. Hasenhuttl opted for the forward pairing of Danny Ings and Nathan Redmond and relentlessly encouraged his back four to play out from the back.
Wolves were struggling with the fluidity of the striking duo and had their early optimism that they could press this backline, quickly dissipated. Adama Traore kept running down futile avenues, while Willian Jose’s legs looked increasingly heavy and void of vigour after the initial pressing.
At half-time, Nuno Espírito Santo was entrenched within a similar predicament as he was last time out at St Mary’s. In the same fixture, in the same period of the game. Once again, the overarching sense of deja vu emerged.
Straight off the bat, Adama Traore swapped flanks in the second half which inclined his direct propensity to run at opposition inwards, rather than down the byline. The move was partly to suit the Spaniard’s natural strengths, partly because he was getting no change out of Ryan Bertrand.
The swap to the opposing wing meant his dribbling now became more incisive, as he was now running directly towards goal, as opposed to taking the more circumvent route. His gliding runs often attracted Southampton players towards him, leaving opposing winger Pedro Neto, who continued to wave his hand above his head to offer a switch of play.
This, in turn, coax Bertrand towards the ball, allowing right wing-back Nelson Semedo to overlap. Wolves, a team themselves struggling for consistency this season, tactical changes caused a rattling implosion from Southampton. Overloads were everywhere, with the home side visibly shaken and their passing thrown off-kilter.
Below is a similar example that occurred straight after the restart. Notice how after getting past Oriol Romeu, Traore attracts red shirts with his incisive dribbling. Bertrand’s glance over left shoulder leaves him with a decision to make – either go towards the winger or hold position and the covering space.
Bertrand decides to hold off until the last possible moment, in an attempt to cut off the forward pass to Semedo. Traore’s delay and then execution of the pass is perfect, taking out three further Southampton players.
The attack fizzles out but is a precursor for what to expect in the second half.
Yes, let this writer address the cavernous elephant in the room. Once again, Southampton bore the brunt of the very worst of VAR and the greatly, yawning pitfalls this technology has to offer. The handball law is as confusing and perplexing as my grandmother attempting a Tik Tok post.
No one particularly knows or understands the ever-changing law anymore, due to its duopoly elements and its profuse paradoxes. And if you could rewind through the annuals of time, the second handball from Leander Dendoncker would probably have been given in September.
Nevertheless, despite Southampton’s lack of success again being forged by external powers, they simply did not do enough to cope with Nuno Espírito Santo’s astute tweaks. Once Neto struck with a slaloming, balletic run and finish, the hosts became too desperate too early on. They lost rhythm, shape and forced the ball forwards.
When Kyle Walker-Peters clutched his hamstring, rather than put Jack Stephens at right-back – a position he played during the incremental stages of development as a Plymouth youngster – Hasenhuttl shifted formation and went to an unfamiliar five at the back. And with that, the close-knitted principles the Austrian had always been so stoutly wedded to, vanished.
After the game, Hasenhuttl chose to largely focus on the shortcomings of VAR and the people tasked with the handling of the system. The Saints boss has long been an advocate of technology in the game but took umbrage at the officials. “Mr Atkinson was the VAR today. I don’t know what he has seen”, said a festering Hasenhuttl. “It’s hard to understand.
“The way we lost today was hard to understand. I am normally a big fan (of VAR). When you concede an equaliser like this, its always tough to come back”
The topic of VAR during the fallout of a Southampton defeat is becoming increasingly common and is acting the central hub of controversy. Up until this year, Hasenhuttl had always been one of the more cordial, mild-mannered managers of the new innovation making its way into football. The times in which the 53-year-old would refer to VAR at all were sporadic, unless the subject was broached by a reporter.
But now it’s becoming a prominent stick to beat the blame of a defeat with. Aside from the Newcastle game, each loss in recent weeks has carried a sense of injustice and provided complete reasoning that if there was fairness, they wouldn’t have been consigned to another match without any points.
While Saints can no longer depend on officiating to aid them or at times, impart an equal foothold, there needs to be some time taken for reflection. Not every game can they blame an outside, uncontrollable factor. Since that memorable night against Liverpool, Saints have looked fragile and brittle. And that is regardless of VAR.
They can no longer put a lid back on a game when it’s threatening to spiral of the control. They have appeared frail and feeble and content to be lost in the whirling rapids of a match.
It is somewhat surprising to see Southampton look as shocked at the thought of seeing Wolves return for the second half with augmented firepower and vitality. They should have known a reaction was to come. The fact they got burnt in the same fixture last year, when also leading at half time, should have been used as a yard stick to gauge the heat they were inevitably going to come under.
“You can speak about getting flat. We played three days earlier a game against them,” Hasenhuttl reasoned in his post-match press conference. “They had more rotation. Sure it’s not surprising they had more power at the end.”
Hasenhuttl’s words suggest he was expecting a retaliation from Wolves. So why didn’t his players heed the warning? The physical vortex of Adama Traore should have seared enough warning, never-mind the guile and artistry feet of Pedro Neto.
Whether its confidence, fitness or concentration issues, Southampton haven’t learnt the naive lessons of a tough winter. The elementary mistakes were punished and no answer was forthcoming.
A full week’s training should provide an important opportunity for the squad to look in the mirror and take stock. Do they want to settle for mid-table mediocrity or dare to dream? Even worse, they could find themselves entrenched just above that heinous dotted line.
Other games supplied enough mitigating factors, this time against Wolves, it was more than that. Sure, you can express frustrations at VAR or the revolving injury crisis; perhaps looking closer to home is the first place to start.
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