With Mark Hughes under increasing pressure to keep his job following a win percentage of just 19.2% after 26 games in charge, it’s understandable that names are being thrown around if the manager does face the axe.
One man, in particular, has become the reported favourite to replace Hughes, overcoming the likes of Brendan Rodgers and Garry Monk.
Paulo Sousa, a former Portuguese international who played for Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan in a glittering playing career among others, is widely seen by many to become the next Southampton manager, with some reports even suggesting talks have already been held between the two parties.
Sousa certainly has pedigree, winning the Champions League twice as a player with Juventus and Borussia Dortmund and winning two league titles as a manager with Maccabi Tel Aviv and FC Basel. Though these two national championships wins may sound impressive, it’s important to note that in the last 10 years Maccabi have won the title three times in the Israeli league and FC Basel have repeated the feat eight times in the Swiss league.
This means it’s difficult to assess how good a manager he is based on his success with these two teams as they were widely expected to win their leagues in their respective countries anyway.
However, Sousa has managed three teams in England before: QPR in 2008, Swansea City in 2009 and Leicester City in 2010, with varying success. He was sacked as QPR boss in strange circumstances after less than five months in charge, with the club suggesting he had been divulging ‘sensitive information’.
His tenure at Swansea proved to be far more successful, guiding them to their highest finish in 27 years to seventh place in the Championship in the 2009/10 season before leaving for Leicester, where he was sacked after just nine league games in charge.
This is reminiscent of some of Southampton’s ex-bosses leaving for ‘bigger clubs’, such as Mauricio Pochettino to Tottenham Hotspur and Ronald Koeman to Everton, which may worry some fans as if he does prove to be a success, he may well move on to another club quickly as previous managers have.
The longest time Sousa has spent at a club was just under two years at Fiorentina, suggesting that he may not be the long-term solution based on his record of leaving most teams after only one season.
However, tactically he may be a perfect match for Southampton. With Fiorentina especially, he gained a famous win over Juventus and ended his reign with an impressive win percentage of 45.3% over the two seasons, finishing fifth and eighth in his respective seasons.
He used a 3-4-2-1 formation, emphasising the importance of possessive yet attacking football. The wing-backs are the most important roles as they are the only width in this system and, when used correctly, it can be extremely tough to play against.
Chelsea’s Premier League victory in the 2016/17 season was particularly notable for using this system and Sousa may have an advantage as Southampton are familiar with this formation having already used it under Koeman and Hughes.
Sousa would certainly represent a huge risk in comparison to hiring a more successful and experienced Premier League manager such as Sam Allardyce. His success at Swansea is overshadowed by the events at Leicester City and QPR, especially with the Foxes as he won just once in nine league games.
However, he may well be a risk worth taking. Southampton’s last two managers before Hughes in Claude Puel and Mauricio Pellegrino have been extremely defensively-minded and fans have been hoping to see a return to the attacking style of football that was so highly praised under the management of Pochettino and Koeman.
Paulo Sousa’s teams certainly have played some great football in the past and, if he can recreate the form his Fiorentina and Swansea teams did, he may well be the man to turn Southampton into the feared, attacking side it used to be.
