The 2016/17 season has come to a climax, and Southampton look fairly good on paper – but there’s a lot more to look at than what immediately meets the eye.
Saints appointed ex-Nice manager Claude Puel back in the July of last year and thoughts among the south coast faithful were mixed; many of whom had never even heard of the 55-year-old Frenchman before the links with their beloved club.
Fast forward ten months and the majority would now prefer not to hear of him again – with the general consensus among the fanbase that he should be relieved of his duties at the club.
A plethora of rumours have surfaced since the end of the league campaign linking Puel to Saint-Etienne particularly, and I imagine that Saints’ board of directors are holding out for the French side to swoop for him – so that we would not have to pay compensation.
But with the expectation of a manager’s departure, it’s only normal to begin links to what will soon be a vacant hot seat. There have been plenty, but one notably stands out for Southampton fans – the idea of recently-sacked Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel. Could it really happen?
Tuchel was – and still is – established as one of Europe’s top, young managers. He took over at Dortmund with a spectacular track record, after Jurgen Klopp took the reins at Liverpool. Tuchel guided Mainz to their best ever Bundesliga finish of fifth in just his second season at the helm.
Thomas Tuchel takes great inspiration from Pep Guardiola, and bases his teams’ style of play partially around the Spaniard’s innovations. Although, Tuchel has his own ideas too – Gegenpressing being one of them.
It is, admittedly, a style of pressing that Jurgen Klopp employs too – but Tuchel used it to a great extent at Dortmund, and very well.
Gegenpressing is simply ‘to press the opposition as soon as you lose possession’, all players hunt to regain possession and sometimes in units. The objective is to kill two birds with one stone; preventing the opposition’s counter-attack and to regain possession. Players in a system applying Gegenpressing must play close together to form a unit right after the ball is lost.
What would Tuchel change at Southampton?
The German would operate with a much more attacking style of play, the contrast to what we have seen Claude Puel set up in recent months.
Tuchel is an avid implementer of youth, comparable to Puel in that element and I would expect him to continue the path into the first team from the club’s academy.
Another encouraging point is how young Tuchel is, at just 43-years-old. He certainly has a long career ahead of him and, more than likely, his best years ahead of him.
On the other hand, an aspect I’d believe to be slightly ominous for fans is the notion to use Saints as a stepping stone.
Tuchel has been touted with clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain, AS Roma and Arsenal. It wouldn’t be unfair for him to move on after a good season or two, to fulfil his managerial potential.
So, with Claude Puel’s short-lived Southampton reign inevitably coming to a close, could Thomas Tuchel be the man to take over and continue the club’s stagnated progress?
