Although much of the first 30 minutes of Sunday’s match against Southampton was a near-total disaster, West Ham actually started the game relatively well. In the first five minutes, David Moyes’ side managed to force an early corner – which the Scot felt should’ve led to a penalty after Romain Perraud dragged Tomáš Souček to the deck – and sustained pressure well to create a follow-up snapshot chance for Emerson in the box. It didn’t take long for the flow of the match to change though and the trigger for this shift in momentum was as simple as the first few long balls from Gavin Bazunu to Che Adams.
Moyes had been forced to revert to a back three in this game with injuries, lack of fitness and illness affecting all of the centre-back options other than Thilo Kehrer. So, the German slotted into the heart of the defence, despite his comparatively small frame for the position, and was flanked by full-backs Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell. Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl had obviously decided that he could kill two birds with one stone in response. One of West Ham’s key strengths in the 343 shape is the ability that Declan Rice and Souček have in forcing higher turnovers and one of the key weaknesses in their lineup was the lack of aerial ability and physical strength in defence. By playing direct passes from the goalkeeper to the striker, Southampton could cut out West Ham’s defensively strong double-pivot and expose the physical weaknesses at the heart of the Hammers’ defence.
Southampton win the ball and retain possession cleanly from Bazunu’s first two long passes.
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