How will Southampton build up under new boss Juric?

The Croatian has been appointed as Russell Martin's successor amid football's most hectic period of fixtures.

Starting with their trip to Fulham, Saints play four times in 16 days. Juric will not get much time for intense training sessions as recovery will be the focus.

He should still be able to communicate his ideas effectively. The players are used to regular tactical briefings from their time working under Martin, and Juric may rely on those sessions in his first weeks.

Throughout his coaching career, which has taken place exclusively in Italy until now, Juric has tended to deploy a three-at-the-back system.

The makeup of that defence can consist of three traditional centre-backs or a pairing of centre-backs and a full-back brought inside - think Kyle Walker-Peters this season.

Just having a look through Ivan Juric's Roma tenure and he exclusively deployed three-at-the-back formations, whether that was coded down as a 3-4-2-1, 3-4-3 or 3-5-2, so you can start to get a flavour of how Saints might look under the Croatian this season.#SaintsFC pic.twitter.com/cSv5Is88bo

— Alfie House (@AlfieHouseEcho) December 20, 2024

Goalkeeper distribution and passing out from the back

The critical issue Juric has to address is stopping his side from gifting goals to the opposition. Saints have conceded 10 goals from errors and have only scored 11.

Supporters have lost count of how many times a goalkeeper or defender has passed straight to an attacker.

Torino's Vanja Milinković-Savić averaged a similar number of live passes under Juric during the 2023/24 season as Aaron Ramsdale did this season under Martin this season.

What's different is that Milinković-Savić tended to go long more often. His 8.11 accurate long balls per 90 (86th percentile) is significantly higher than Ramsdale's 5.56 (55th percentile).

Saints goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale remains a fitness doubt. (Image: PA/Zac Goodwin).Discounting centre-backs, Milinković-Savić's most commonly passed to forward Duvan Zapata. Saints have rarely gone straight to their striker.

Passing out from the back is part of the modern game and Juric will continue to ask his players to do so - but he will want them to play forward quicker.

In his first interview, he admitted: "I want the players to be quick, to change the mentality." When they win the ball back, they counter.

The role of wide players

Juric asks his wing-backs to push forward and provide width. This allows them to arrive in crossing areas more constantly.

At Torino, they created most of their chances down the right side, through Raoul Bellanova. At Roma, they focused their wide play through Stephan El Shaarawy.

Yukinari Sugawara will likely play a key role at Saints. The Japanese international is at his best going forward and is the closest thing the club have to Bellanova.

Bellanova ranked highest for shot-creating actions (96) and goal-creating actions (nine) at Torino in the 2023/24 campaign.

If used correctly, Sugawara can replicate those numbers. His eye for a cross is strong. Saints may have scored more had his teammates made more of his deliveries.

An example of how Saints could look in attack. 

Driving runs and mixing it up

If they aren't playing through a full-back, Saints could drive through the middle. This is something Manu Kone did brilliantly at Roma.

The French midfielder would often win the ball back and break the first line with a powerful run before playing to his left or right.

In the example below, he picks up the ball back before playing to the right winger, Zeki Celik, who in turn tees up Artem Dovbyk.

Manu Kone drives through the middle. (Image: WyScout) Roma score by crossing to several bodies in the box. (Image: WyScout) Alternatively, if the opposition set-up restricts their options, they could bypass the midfield by asking Taylor Harwood-Bellis to clip a ball over the top.

Roma's Gianluca Mancini has created a staggering 10 chances this season - not bad going for a centre-back.

Saints will need to be flexible in the final third. Juric likes to have one midfielder pushed up between the attackers when possible, creating a three-pronged forward line.

In the example below, taken from his final game at Roma, Bryan Cristante (circled) has joined the attack.Midfielder Bryan Cristante pushes forward to join the forward line. (Image: WyScout) Although the ball forward is half-cleared, Roma recycle and end up scoring from a cross from the right.

With right winger El Shaarawy (circled) inverted, centre-back Mancini finds himself in a crossing area and picks out El Shaarawy for a header. Again, they have three options in the box.

Roma score with a different forward line 30 seconds after a chance fizzled out. (Image: WyScout)

No matter what approach Southampton adopt, Juric and his coaching staff will need to inject confidence into a battered squad.