Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has praised West Ham’s physicality and defensive organisation ahead of their clash on Saturday.
Hasenhuttl says that they like to sit deep and can cause problems with their counter-pressing, due to their good organisation at the back.
Speaking to Southampton’s website, Hasenhuttl said:
I’m expecting a difficult one. We lost the first one this season against them, and lost both last season, so we haven’t been really successful against this team. The last game is gone and now we are focusing on this difficult challenge and we want to go there with the best possible performance.
They are a physically strong team and are defensively good organised. They are sometimes a little bit deeper sitting, but also with good counter pressing, and they are a physically strong team. This caused us a few problems.
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Whilst Hasenhuttl says that West Ham are organised well defensively, the Hammers have actually conceded 14 goals in their last five Premier League matches. This includes conceding three goals at home to Brighton and four away to Leicester, showing that they do have issues in defence.
The Hammers have not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since New Year’s Day against Bournemouth.
Every game is different, though, and Hasenhuttl could notice that the way West Ham defend will work better against Southampton than it has in recent matches against other opposition. This will be hard to tell until the game kicks off on Saturday, with Southampton going in search of back-to-back wins after beating Villa last week.
Southampton may need to start on the front foot and put pressure on West Ham early, not allowing them to get back into shape and drop deep to absorb all of the pressure. If Shane Long can stretch the defence by making runs in behind, he could create gaps within West Ham’s deep block for Stuart Armstrong or Danny Ings to run into.
