Déjà vu: Southampton 1 Wolves 2

Analysis of how Wolves came from behind at St. Mary's for the second season running

18th January 2020. 3:45pm. Wolves are two nil down away to Southampton.

Remember away games?

A simple tactical tweak enabled Pedro Neto and Adama Traore to play closer to Raúl Jiménez. Wolves swarm all over a shocked Southampton side and they win the game 3-2.

Sound familiar?

At half time in Sunday’s fixture at St. Mary’s things were not looking good. A lifeless performance by Wolves, conceding an incredibly soft goal in the process, it was hard to see how Wolves would turn it around. Before the game Wolves only second half goal in 2021 was João Moutinho’s thunderous strike against Arsenal.

So how did Wolves turn it around to win the game?

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Fixing the press

Wolves front players seemed to be asked to press the Southampton defence higher up the pitch than usual and in general the midfielders looked to support them. What happened quite a few times in the first half however was the three central defenders did not connect themselves to the other two units. As a result, Southampton’s attacking midfielders were able to receive in acres of space in front of Leander Dendoncker, Conor Coady and Romain Saïss.

This Southampton attack which resulted in a shot by Nathan Redmond is a good example of where Wolves were exposed.

Rui Patricio does well to save from Redmond’s shot

If we break it down, the initial set up is horrible by Wolves. As Adama Traore applies pressure on Jan Vestergaard, you can see below that Rúben Neves and João Moutinho are looking to cut off the short pass into the Southampton midfielders. However, the gap between the back three and the two central midfielders is simply too big.

Wolves “press” at a Southampton goal kick

Once Vestergaard plays the ball over the Wolves midfield, Conor Coady hesitantly decides to compete for the aerial ball. Problem is, in the (probable) event that he is beaten to the ball, Saiss and Dendoncker are still in their original positions, leaving the centre of the defensive unit incredibly open.

Minamino beats Coady to the ball in the air

Coady is beaten to the ball by Takumi Minamino which allows Stuart Armstrong to run onto the flick on.

Fortunately, Armstrong’s pass was underweighted

Had his pass been heavier and further into the space, Redmond may have been able to produce a shot rather than his subsequent pass that went behind Danny Ings.

The space between Wolves’ defensive lines was a real issue in that first half. Nuno said “they were aggressive and played better than us” and I believe a large cause of this was the spaces between the players that didn’t allow Wolves to compete in those ‘duels’ Nuno often refers to.

In the second half, Wolves displayed a much more cohesive approach which allowed them to play in the opposition half. After the penalty which allowed Wolves to equalise through Neves, Wolves’ second goal and winner through Pedro Neto came through a far better organised press.

Wolves win the ball in a dangerous area (before Neto’s goal)

On this occasion, Adama Traore prevents the Jan Bednarek from playing the ball forwards and past the Wolves first line of press.

Traore forces the ball towards Walker-Peters

This forces the Southampton defender to play wide to Kyle Walker-Peters. As the ball travels towards him, Jonny applies pressure to force a pass and Moutinho marks James Ward-Prowse to deny a pass inside to feet.

Jonny forces Walker-Peters to play forwards

Without a clear passing line, Walker-Peters hooks the ball forwards and into the air. In the first half, this might still have caused Wolves an issue due to the space between the defence and midfield but as the back three were far better connected to the rest of the team by then, Romain Saïss is there to head the ball back into a dangerous position for Wolves.

Saïss wins the header from Walker-Peter’s pass/clearance

When that header is won, Wolves have five players ahead of the ball. This allows them to support the attack earlier and in this case, it leads to Neto’s winner.

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Inverting the wide forwards

When Wolves play 3-4-3, a real issue that harms their attacking play is the the wingers and wing-backs playing on the same line in wide areas.

Wolves 343 shape at times

It makes Wolves play too predictable, especially for teams looking to counter the threat of Adama Traore. He is far less dangerous out on the touchline than when he is running with the ball nearer towards goal.

Wolves struggle to progress the ball in wide areas

The issues that we have seen time and time again surfaced in the first half of the Southampton game. Ryan Bertrand and Kyle Walker-Peters did an excellent job of closing down and trapping Neto and Traore into the wide areas. Nuno even alluded to this in his comments to the Athletic:

“They (Neto and Traore) were not in the game. They were being squeezed all the time, Bertrand and (Kyle) Walker-Peters weren’t giving space. (Neto and Traore) were receiving the ball facing our own goal and not producing one-v-ones. Them inside, with our full-backs more in the wide areas, the flow of the movement can produce them going forward. That was our view.

The swapping of Neto and Adama changed Wolves’ fortunes drastically. First of all, it allowed those two as individuals to receive the ball in more threatening spaces, facing the opponents goal. However, having them playing inside and closer to Willian José, was it meant Southampton couldn’t afford as much space in the middle of the pitch, forcing them to a play a little deeper, and allowing Wolves to position themselves a little higher up the pitch.

Wolves shape in the second half

Previous attempts to utilise Traore from the left had not been so successful. He has often looked unsure where to position himself and as a result he doesn’t receive the ball as often as the team would need him to. What we saw in the second half against Southampton is exactly why he should be a real danger coming in from the left.

Traore dribble creates the opening for Semedo

As we saw, his dribble inside from the left attracted multiple Southampton defenders and allowed him to slide the ball for Nelson Semedo, whose shot hit the hand of Bertrand.

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Tackling Leeds

Up next is a home game against Leeds United. In the reverse fixture, Wolves managed to overcome a difficult start to the game and win the game. You can find my analysis of that game on this twitter thread:

Louie Silvani @louiesilvani4

THREAD | Wolves change of shape v Leeds A thread on how Nuno corrected a tactical issue early in the first half to help set Wolves on their way to an impressive result on Monday night at Leeds. #wwfc

Like in the win over Southampton, Wolves had to tweak the way they played and set up in order to win the game at Elland Road. Pedro Neto and Daniel Podence allowed Wolves to break more effectively positioned nearer to Raúl Jiménez, who scored the winner.

Though they suffered a defeat in their last game at Arsenal, if Wolves have a similar sluggish first half performance Leeds have the potential to blow them away. If they try to press Leeds higher up the pitch they have to ensure they don’t leave huge spaces between the front and back of the team.