Wolves vs Southampton: Inside track on the Saints

We spoke with Steve Grant, owner of Saintsweb.co.uk, Ben Stanfield, host of the Total Saints Podcast, and Adam Leitch, Chief sports writer at the Southern Daily Echo, to get an inside track on Mark Hughes' side.

See what he had to say here...

How have Southampton handled their start to the Premier League season? Does it look like another season of struggle for them after their survival last time around?

SG: It’s fair to say it’s not been a thrill-a-minute start to the season.

Having been handed a fairly tame “underarm throw” early fixture list, we had stumbled into a point-per-game start until a sound beating at Anfield last week.

We’re pretty much on par with last season in terms of corresponding results, so while it’s not been disastrous, we’ve not exactly given ourselves much of a head start either.

Realistically, I think we’re looking at a very similar season to last time, probably with a similar result – we’re quite fortunate in that there seem to be a lot of really bad teams in the Best League in the World™, so we’ll probably be safe by default rather than actually being any good.

BS: Saints have, for one reason or another, always been notoriously slow starters and this season has been no different.

With a somewhat friendly set of early fixtures (if there is such a thing in the Premier League!) we’ve mustered just five points – with only one game so far being played against the ‘big six’.

We only just stayed up last season and, with many of the same mistakes, and dropped points, already surfacing this time around, it looks to be another long season ahead!

AL: It’s certainly a difficult season for Saints.

Having only just avoided relegation last season it was always likely to be tricky and that is how it’s looking early in this campaign, where they have played well in some matches, or parts of matches, but haven’t got as many points as they would have liked.

Saints need to try and recover a bit of confidence and find some momentum.

What sort of business have Southampton done over the summer to help improve their squad?

SG: Signings have been made through the spine of the team this summer to improve the side.

Defensively, we’ve been a shambles, so a dominant centre back was one of two big priorities. Jannik Vestergaard arrived from Mönchengladbach to plug that void, with somewhat mixed results so far.

Meanwhile, at the other end, we needed a bit more sharpness up front, so local lad - but friend of the physio’s table – Danny Ings has “come home” from Liverpool, and he’s been an undoubted success to date.

Elsewhere, we made what looked like a bargain signing from Celtic when we acquired Stuart Armstrong for a knockdown £7m, but having played well for an hour on his debut, he’s not really been seen much since, which has been slightly baffling.

Also, having mysteriously sold our most creative player in Dusan Tadic to Ajax (where he’s almost certainly taken a pay cut), we replaced him with Norwegian playmaker Mohamed Elyounoussi, who impressed in the Champions League for Basel last season.

He’ll take a while to get up to speed in this country, I suspect, which isn’t ideal when we were lacking creativity anyway.

We also made quite possibly the most pointless signing of the summer when we paid Man City around £11m for England U21 keeper Angus Gunn, just a week after rewarding Alex McCarthy with a new 4-year contract.

So much like Burnley, we now have three England international goalkeepers on our books, with Fraser Forster literally having to do nothing to earn his significant salary these days.

As good as Gunn is or may turn out to be, having made a number of expensive mistakes in the transfer market in recent years, I think that money could have been spent elsewhere.

BS: Saints were pretty active in the transfer window this summer. Around £50m was spent on four new signings, with Danny Ings’ £20m deal for next summer (after an initial loan) also finalised.

Danish central defender Jannik Vestergaard was signed as the replacement for Virgil Van Dijk. He is 6ft 7in and, whilst far from the finished article, has shown signs that he could be a dominant presence at the back over time.

As mentioned, Danny Ings was a last minute (literally!) deadline day deal for Saints. Having shown no real ambition to go for a striker of his profile it was a big surprise. But he is a local lad, a Saints fan and, with three goals in four starts this season, thankfully hit the ground running.

Other signings included goalkeeper Angus Gunn from Manchester City, Stuart Armstrong from Celtic and Mohammed Elyounoussi from FC Basel. All look to be decent acquisitions but are yet to secure a regular starting place in the team.

AL: They have made a few moves, but have also put a lot of importance in the permanent appointment of Mark Hughes as manager.

The big additions in terms of those currently starting are Jannik Vestergaard at centre half. He’s a tall and imposing figure and Saints hope he will be a rock for them as he settles in.

At the other end of the pitch there is Danny Ings, returning to his boyhood club and hitting the goalscoring trail immediately. A lot depends on him continuing to contribute.

What have you made of their business?

SG: There’s a bit of a feeling that, while on an individual level, most – if not all – of the signings made are upgrades on what we had, they’re relatively minor upgrades or filling gaps that have existed for a while.

Vestergaard nominally replaces Virgil van Dijk, as if anybody is ever going to be able to fill those shoes immediately, Elyounoussi replaces Tadic, Armstrong effectively replaces Steven Davis who is getting on a bit these days, while Ings basically takes the good bits of each of Charlie Austin, Manolo Gabbiadini and Shane Long and fuses them into one player, which is a bit odd, but if he keeps up his early performances, he’ll prove a great signing.

BS: As many will know, our squad has been regularly dismantled over the last 4-5 years, particularly by Liverpool. Whilst we’ve made a heck of a lot of money from the sales, it’s clear to all that our first XI is now much weaker.

We’ve now accrued a squad of ‘quantity over quality’. Two players for every position, all on Premier League wages, but hardly any with ‘star’ status.

Neither the leadership or pace, that’s been sold over the last 24 months, has been replaced adequately, and that was the same again this summer.

AL: It’s hard when a team has struggled as badly as Saints did, because you might want more wholesale change than is possibly practical.

They probably haven’t done enough business to suggest they are going to transform themselves completely but hopefully they have done enough that they can slip into mid-table obscurity and not spend the entire season looking over their shoulder.

Time will tell, of course, but after last year that would be progress.

How has Mark Hughes gone about putting his print on the squad after keeping them up last season?

SG: To be honest, that’s quite a difficult question to answer.

Nobody seems to really know whether Hughes is an attack-minded manager, one who likes to play direct, one who likes to build from the back, one who likes to establish a solid defensive base before becoming more expansive, etc.

In his time with us, we’ve shown a little bit of all of them, while not really getting any of them right consistently.

Some may argue that shows a tactical flexibility, others may suggest it’s the sign of a manager who still doesn’t really know how to get the best out of this squad.

He spent the whole of pre-season playing a 3-5-2/5-3-2 system, and then binned it completely after an hour of the first game of the season, reverting to a fairly flat 4-4-2.

The only system change since then was an understandable move to 4-5-1 at Liverpool last week, but our ability to shoot ourselves in the foot apparently has no bounds and we were 3-0 down by half-time.

From an overall perspective, we look better in attack than we did at pretty much any stage under Mauricio Pellegrino – although that really isn’t difficult – but we are getting progressively worse at the back.

While he has rejuvenated Nathan Redmond and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, the likes of Wesley Hoedt and Oriol Romeu have regressed badly.

BS: I’m not sure he has yet, which is why Saints find themselves in the position they do.

Prior to visiting Wolves, we’ve only secured 13 points out of 42 under Hughes (end of last season and start of this), so its hardly been inspiring stuff.

We spent all of pre-season playing three centre backs, only to then ditch that formation an hour into the opening day fixture against Burnley. It hasn’t been seen since!

Hughes doesn’t seem to know his best XI (refer to the ‘quantity over quality’ comment!), nor the identity with which he wants his team to play.

It all feels a bit ‘trial and error’ unfortunately, and the Premier League is one place where that sort of strategy rarely succeeds!

AL: It’s obviously a very different task this time around.

He came in with eight games to go at the end of last season and the only focus was keeping them up. Now he has the job permanently it is about putting his stamp on things.

It’s early days still. We have seen him settle on more of a 4-4-2 formation in general and they have looked better for it.

How do you expect Southampton to face up with Wolves? Will this be a game Hughes is targeting given Wolves' recent promotion?

SG: I would expect Hughes would/should be targeting games against anybody outside the obvious “big six” for points, and given our well-publicised woes at home (one win in the last 14 PL games stretching back to December 2017), we’re now under pressure to start getting results on the road.

I wouldn’t expect us to be particularly gung-ho, but with Redmond and Ings in decent form we’ve finally got a bit of pace and invention up front that should trouble most defences in this league.

I don’t think Wolves being newly-promoted really dictates our thinking too much, as I think most sides below 6th pretty much fall into the same big pot of “can be beaten” teams.

Assuming everyone’s fit, I’d expect us to line up in a sort-of 4-2-2-2.

Our best central midfield partnership – stumbled upon rather than by design, I suspect – seems to be Hojbjerg alongside Mario Lemina, who is immensely talented but seems to lack application at times, with Redmond and one of Elyounoussi, Armstrong or James Ward-Prowse slightly further forward, supporting Long and Ings up front.

There’s nothing particularly sophisticated about it, but that seems to be Peak Mark Hughes, so here we are…

BS: The Wolves game is sandwiched between Saints visit to Anfield last weekend and Chelsea at home next weekend. For that reason, I think it’s a game they need to get something from.

We certainly won’t be confident enough to come out all guns blazing, so I’d expect Saints to try and weather an early storm, before looking to create chances of their own on the counter-attack. If they can, and they fall to the right man (Danny Ings!), then we have a chance.

That said, none of us associated with Southampton expect it to be anything other than a tough game.

AL: It probably has less to do with Wolves’ recent promotion and more where Saints are in the season.

They know they need to try and get some more points on the board before the next international break, and with Chelsea at home up next in league before the fortnight off, getting something from Wolves feels important for Saints.

They wouldn’t have had as much pressure on them had they not let a two-goal lead slip against Brighton, but after those two points drifted away to at least get a point would be a positive.

Southampton struggled against Liverpool over the weekend, as you'd expect many teams will this season, will we see a change of tact from that game heading into this weekend?

SG: Almost certainly.

While we looked OK on the counter-attack at Anfield last week, because their full-backs left so much space behind them, I’d expect us to show a bit of initiative ourselves at times.

I’d imagine Wolves will have most of the possession – how can they not with players like Moutinho and Neves pulling the strings – but we should be a little bit more adventurous than we were last week.

Apparently Charlie Austin’s 91st minute effort up there was our first shot on target at Anfield in more than 180 minutes, which is mildly depressing.

BS: It's hard to think it could be any worse (famous last words!). Saints players looked mentally beaten before they even kicked off against Liverpool last weekend, and the goals they conceded were Sunday League at best.

Hughes even admitted, with us 3-0 down at half-time, that it was ‘damage limitation’ second half!

Due to the Carabao Cup fixture with Everton being postponed a week, Saints will have had a full seven days to prepare for the Wolves game. As a fan you hope the time has been spent analysing what went wrong at Anfield, and focussing on being more on the front-foot in this game.

Wolves will be strong at home, but Saints have to believe they can get something at Molineux, otherwise it could be just as embarrassing.

AL: Saints didn’t have Danny Ings available and with his return, and not having to play at Anfield, you would think Hughes will go back to his more attacking 4-4-2 line-up.

Are there any injury worries for the Saints as they prepare for the clash with Nuno's side?

SG: It doesn’t look like Wesley Hoedt picked up the slight knock I was hoping he would this week in training, so he will continue to keep the vastly underrated Maya Yoshida out of the side for reasons best known to Mark Hughes.

As a result, it seems we’ve got a fully fit squad to choose from.

BS: Touch wood, there shouldn’t be.

Manolo Gabbiadini and Mohammed Elyounoussi both missed the game on Merseyside due to knocks, but they weren’t believed to be too serious. I’d expect both to be back in contention for the match day squad.

Danny Ings, who was unavailable last Saturday due to his loan agreement, will also be back for the game.

Other than that, Saints currently have no other injuries or suspensions of note.

What have you made of Wolves this season from afar? Do you think they have the team to manage and thrive in the Premier League?

SG: I guess they’ve probably made as good a start as anyone could have hoped for, with draws against both Manchester clubs already secured and a couple of wins against sides they will probably expect to be competing with this season.

The style of play and the energy shown has been good to watch, almost a sad reminder of what we were like a couple of years ago before we stagnated badly.

I don’t see them having any problems staying in the division, and if they get on a good run could easily finish in the top half in their first season back up – perhaps the only area of concern would be up front; are any of the strikers reliable enough to get 10-15 goals this season?

BS: Wolves have really hit the ground running – and I’ve been impressed. They thoroughly deserved their draw against Manchester City a few weeks ago.

The club, of course, appear to benefit from the relationship they have with Jorge Mendes, so the transfers brought in over the summer weren’t necessarily a surprise. They all seem to have gelled quickly, enabling a fast start to the season.

Wolves have had a pretty difficult set of early fixtures though, but already find themselves well placed to make it a very comfortable first season back in the Premier League.

I think a mid-table finish looks very achievable.

AL: They seem fairly well equipped but it’s a big step up, and it is also a long season where it’s all too easy for some early momentum to run out.

They should be fine, but just staying in the Premier League is an achievement in the first year after promotion. If they manage that, which they should, then they will have a great platform for the future.

Your match prediction?

SG: I would imagine Wolves go into the game as favourites, despite the “newly-promoted” status, but this is the sort of game we’ve often been able to grind something out of, by hook or by crook, so I fancy us to get at least a draw.

We certainly won’t be keeping a clean sheet, though, so I’ll go for an entertaining 2-2 draw.

BS: I predicted 1-0 to Wolves on Total Saints Podcast last week – so I should really stick with that - sadly!

AL: 1-1

You can follow Steve, Ben and Adam on Twitter by searching for @SteveGrant1983, @BenStanners and @adamleitchsport, and see Steve's work at saintsweb.co.uk whilst you can listen to Ben by searching for @TotalSaintsPod.