Extending their unbeaten streak to three consecutive matches was what Southampton intended when travelling to Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane. And fortunately for Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side, they did just that thanks to the only goal from Moussa Djénépo.
Both teams lined up in their usual formation with Hasenhüttl chose a 4-2-2-2 system for Southampton. He dropped Danny Ings to the bench with Moussa Djénépo paired up as two strikers up front. Meanwhile, Jannik Vestergaard moved to the left-back position with a view of creating a back-three along with Jan Bednarek and Maya Yoshida.
On the opposite side, Sheffield United went for their familiar 5-3-2 formation with two wing-backs Enda Stevens and George Baldock occupied the wide area. New signing Oliver McBurnie connected with former Saints striker David McGoldrick to provide the goals. Another striker who was also facing his old club was Billy Sharp, who appeared on the bench alongside Lys Mousset and Luke Freeman.
As usual, the away side entered this match with a positive state which was shown in their way of pressing the opponent. But playing against a back-three, Hasenhüttl had a few other ideas in his mind. His 4-4-2 formation could be switched flexibly into a 4-3-3 when right-winger Sofiane Boufal moved higher up the pitch to create a front three. These three attackers put pressure on Sheffield United’s central defenders and aimed to capitalise on heavy touches or misplaced passes to win the ball back.
Meanwhile, the left-sided attacking midfielder James Ward-Prowse dropped deep and tucked in quite narrow to create a midfield three. They marked the opposition’s central midfielders, attempted to pin them down and provided support for the three attackers up front.
In the first half, the efficiency of their press wasn’t showed constantly as the home side found themselves using short passes to bypass the pressure. Moreover, they even managed to move the ball into space behind Southampton’s defensive line through the gaps between the defenders. As a result, they were managed to threaten Angus Gunn’s goal several times. Fortunately, the former Manchester City goalkeeper was comfortable on the day and managed to deny McGoldrick and John Fleck.
At the other end, a similar scenario also happened to The Saints. They were managed to create troubles for the defenders through Boufal and Djénépo’s dribbles. The two wingers had the pace to beat their markers and approached the box on several occasions.
In set-pieces, Ward-Prowse usually delivered accurate crosses towards the head of defenders. They have a decent positioning sense that helped them picked out where the ball dropped in order to head it towards the goal. Or, the midfielders could be at the end of clearances to pick up the ball and strike it towards Dean Henderson’s goal.
Although they had several great chances, they weren’t able to make the most out of it. Some of them were denied by the Manchester United loanee and a few of them found the goalposts and deflected out wide. The half ended with a 0-0 draw that would possibly satisfy both sets of fans.
The second half saw a more active reaction from both sides, especially from Sheffield United. They created more attacks towards Gunn’s goal through one of their favourite strategies, overlapping centre-backs. Usually, the outside central defenders Chris Basham and Jack O’Connell joined the attack by making runs into the wide areas next to the wing-backs.
They provided a passing option for the ball carrier and could also pick up the ball to drive forward and sent crosses into the box for the strikers. One of those situations led to the controversial situation of the game where Norwood sent the ball towards his teammates inside the box. While Egan missed his header earlier, McBurnie quickly followed up to score the tap-in.
During their celebration, the referee checked their decision by VAR and decided to call it off. It was a very close call for Southampton and this was their third consecutive time that they were saved by VAR. This was also a signal for them to tighten up even more at the back.
Indeed, they followed up that situation by focusing on solidity at the back by dragging Djénépo back on several occasions. As the players retreated back to their half, Southampton created a 5-3-2 formation to defend against Sheffield United’s attacks.
The home side also pushed their tempo up in order to find their first goal of the game. When things haven’t started going in the right way for them, Djénépo brought the breakthrough of the game. From one of their pressing situations, his colleague, Sofiane Boufal, won the ball back from a misplaced pass by Oliver Norwood.
He then laid it off to Djénépo and the Malian winger showed his composure to beat the pressure from Norwood and then bypass two central defenders to drive it to the bottom left corner of Henderson’s goal.
During the remaining minutes, both Southampton and Sheffield United created chances towards each other’s goals. Although the players tried their best effort to increase their team’s tally but at the same time, they maintained their solidity in defence and kept the 1-0 scoreline until the whistle blown. The home side even had a red card by the former Saints striker, Billy Sharp in the 86th minute. But Sheffield United remained stubborn in front of their goal and prevented any chances that came towards Henderson.
It was a very interesting game on the tactical perspective as both managers adopted their familiar styles of play and provided a free-flowing game. Both teams all had their chances to improve the score, but still, three points ended up with Hasenhüttl’s side and they have secured their back-to-back away wins since March 2017. This will be a boost for the team’s morale and confidence as the team started their preparation for two consecutive derbies starting from next weekend.
