Hasenhuettl Southampton destroys Conte’s system at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
If there is anything the Premier League clash between Ralph Hasenhuettl Southampton and Antonio Conte‘s Tottenham Hotspur in London showed, it is the tactical deficiency or lack of personnel.
The game is by far one of the one-sided games I have watched in a long while with the visitors, Southampton playing like it was their home.
Southampton started the game like a house on fire showing their intention to win the game from the start of the game.
Led in the attack by Chelsea loanee Armando Borja and with captain James Ward Prowess pulling the string in the middle of the pack – Southampton proved too much for Tottenham.
Against run-off play, Tottenham took the lead through a Jan Bednarek own goal in the 18 minutes of the game – Southampton quickly equalized through Armando Broja in the 23 minutes.
Southampton had a few chances to end the game 2-1 up going into the halftime break but Hugo Lloris stood strong in goal.
After a few wasted chances from Southampton, Tottenham took the lead through a counter-attack which started from a foul from Emerson on Broja which the referee overlooked as replays showed the former Barcelona player infringed on the Armenian striker.
From the Emerson-Broja play, Harry Kane- Lucas Moura teed up Heung-Min Son for Tottenham’s second goal in the 70th minute of the game.
Then it felt like Southampton changed their style of play from the midfield play to going to the flanks and they were rewarded when a James Ward-Prowse cross found Mohamed Elyounoussi in the box for the 80th-minute equalizer.
Two minutes after the equalizer, a similar cross from the flank from James Ward-Prowse found Che Adams who nodded home the 3rd and winning goal.
Tottenham clearly had run out of gas from defending and chasing Southampton players all over the pitch – even the introduction of Rodrigo Bentancur, Dejan Kulusevski, and Steven Bergwijn couldn’t help Antonio Conte’s men.
Spurs pushed for an equalizer and thought they got one when Steven Bergwijn scored in the 93rd minutes of the game but it was ruled out for offside.
Tottenham didn’t deserve a point the way they played and Southampton deserved all full points with the way to play against the London club.
Antonio Conte’s Tottenham line up in the Italian favourite formation of 3-4-3, Ralph Hasenhuettl Southampton lined up in their 4-2-2-2 formation.
Tottenham with better players head-to-head were always waiting for a loose ball so they can counter the all-attacking Southampton.
They got their first goal that way and their controversial second goal in the same manner.
Southampton attempted 463 passes and completed 383 (83%) of them while Tottenham attempted just 420 and completed 338 (80%).
In fact, Southampton attempted 23 shots had 10 on target, 10 off target, and 3 were blocked whereas Tottenham only had attempted 8 shots, 3 were on target, 2 off target, and 3 blocked shots.
The truth is Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 was supposed to contain an attacking team and give Tottenham a defensive advantage but it wasn’t the case on Wednesday as they were run out by Southampton’s 4-2-2-2 formation.
Two things, Antonio Conte might need more money to sign the players he wants for this formation like he did at Inter Milan or he just needs to be flexible and play to his players’ strength.
On paper, Tottenham have better players compared to Southampton but this game showed sometimes with good tactical discipline a not-too-good team can beat the supposed better team.
