Southampton face a tough-looking trip to face Championship side Derby County in the third round of the FA Cup at the Pride Park Stadium on Saturday, and manager Ralph Hasenhuttl should make a decision that can help turn around Mohamed Elyounoussi’s Saints career.
On the chalkboard
The Norway international was obviously seen as a replacement for Dusan Tadic when he arrived in a big-money deal from FC Basel during the summer transfer window, but he has struggled to make an impact under either Mark Hughes or Hasenhuttl as of yet.
The 24-year-old featured for just 540 Premier League minutes under the Welshman, while he has played 93 minutes out of a possible 540 since the Austrian took charge last month.
When he has been on the field Elyounoussi has generally played in a wide position – although he was slightly more central in the 3-4-2-1 system deployed against Manchester City last weekend – but he doesn’t appear to have the pace and power to be a success there.
How can Hasenhuttl help him?
Given he has failed to make the squad twice and has been an unused substitute on two other occasions under the 51-year-old, it is clear to see that the former RB Leipzig coach isn’t keen to experiment with trying to find the correct position for Elyounoussi in their important Premier League fixtures – even though he has done that with James Ward-Prowse in recent games.
However, some of that pressure is certainly off against Championship opposition in the Rams, and Hasenhuttl should look to turn the disappointing summer addition’s Southampton career around by giving him a central role in the east Midlands.
Ideally, that would be in more of a free role behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-1-1 system, or if the Austrian wants to stick with three centre-backs he could go with a 3-5-1-1 formation.
Elyounoussi is obviously a clever player who starred in terms of goals and assists with Basel previously, and switching him to the centre could prove to be yet another masterstroke by the man quickly becoming a St Mary’s hero.
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