da dobrowin： Southampton fell to their second successive Premier League defeat as they were beaten 2-1 by Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, and it was just the latest disappointing result in what has been a below-par start to the season.
da bet7k： The south coast outfit have taken just eight points from their opening seven top flight fixtures, and considering six of those were against Swansea City, West Ham United, Watford, Huddersfield Town, Crystal Palace and Stoke, that will be seen as a pretty poor return.
Manager Mauricio Pellegrino should certainly be contemplating how he can change things during the international break, with the club’s struggles in front of goal meaning they have failed to score in 10 of their last 15 Premier League matches.
While the Argentine boss has stuck with the 4-2-3-1 system that the team has become so used to in recent years, there are others that could help the side find their form ahead of a visit from newly-promoted Newcastle United on October 15.
Here are three reasons Pellegrino must adopt the 3-4-1-2 formation before it’s too late…
It would boost their chances of scoring
The pundits can see it, the fans can see it and now Pellegrino must see it too. The 4-2-3-1 formation and style of football that Southampton are currently playing isn’t going to see them score enough goals this season.
At the current time, Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic are starting out wide every week despite being out of form while Steven Davis certainly isn’t a number 10 – even if he did score the winner against Crystal Palace – and Shane Long has never been a prolific goalscorer.
The south coast outfit relied on Maya Yoshida to get their goal against Stoke and switching the system now would almost certainly boost their attacking threat.
If they had two strikers – one combination involving Long, Manolo Gabbiadini and Charlie Austin – it would certainly help, while someone like Tadic or even Sofiane Boufal could play the creative role behind them, or perhaps the more defensively-minded Davis who would drop deeper if they are playing one of the top sides.
Shane Long can’t play on his own up top
Long was brought into the team against Crystal Palace with Manolo Gabbiadini struggling to in the lone striker role, but while he has done well in some ways he simply cannot be relied upon to play up front on his own for the rest of the season.
The Republic of Ireland is great at harrying defenders, holding the ball up and winning fouls, but the 30-year-old has scored just 46 Premier League goals in his career and he hasn’t found the net for Southampton since February.
It is clear that while Long can be a useful striker, he needs a proven goalscorer like Gabbiadini or Charlie Austin alongside him to give Saints more of a goal threat.
They have the players for the system
Before the summer transfer window Southampton probably didn’t have the players to use the 3-4-1-2 formation successfully, but now there are no excuses.
Pellegrino has four good centre-backs to choose from in Virgil van Dijk, Wesley Hoedt, Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens, while Ryan Bertrand and Cedric Soares are made for the wing-back roles.
Meanwhile, the Argentine also has Oriol Romeu and Mario Lemina to sit in front of the back three and cover the wing-backs if needed – with the latter especially good at breaking forward with the ball – and it just seems mad to not utilise the formation right now when they have the personnel to do so and they are still struggling in the final third.
Do you agree, Saints fans? Let us know below.