Last Tuesday, Ross Stewart scored his first brace in football since August 2022.
After lengthy setbacks in his two-year road to recovery, it looked as if he was finally fulfilling the promise that Southampton bought him for.
But just four days later in the first half at Pride Park, the Saints physios were signalling that he needed to be substituted off, after the Scotsman had strung together the longest amount of games since joining the club in 2023.
So incredibly unlucky. A player seemingly cursed with constant injury woes, he’s set to face ‘months’ on the sidelines now.
Stewart had won his place in the team, and rightly so. But now, Will Still faces a difficult dilemma. Who replaces him, and how?
Other Striker Options
For the first few games of the season, natural winger Adam Armstrong started as a lone striker, but struggled to hold the ball up or provide the aerial presence Will Still wanted. This experiment ended with him being moved out to his best position – as a wide man.
Then, after an impressive outing away in the League Cup against Norwich City, picking up a great goal, Cameron Archer came into the team. But then again, his lack of aerial ability limited the service offered by new signing Tom Fellows.
It was then time for new signing Damion Downs to get a game, who was signed by Sporting Director Johannes Spors, especially to suit the profile of striker Will Still wanted. But £7m summer signing Downs has appeared hopeless so far, unable to win headers or hold the ball up despite having a tall frame.
Ross Stewart was the only one to really grab his chance, showing what an asset he could be to a Will Still team. With a brace against Sheffield United and promising link-up play, he made the only real case to start as the lone man.
With a lack of options for the central role, Will Still could be forced to rethink his Southampton system completely.
Alternative Systems
Currently, Still is enforcing a 3-4-3 system at Southampton, relying on his wing-backs and wingers as outlets to get crosses into the box. Without Stewart, this approach is going to be almost ineffective.
When Still joined Southampton, he admitted he wanted to sign players to suit his preferred 4-2-3-1 system, but he has found more joy in playing a three-back so far.
Still’s back three requires the wing-backs to push high up the pitch in supporting the forward line, but it has left the team rather suspect on the flanks, with the team conceding plenty of goals from crosses.
Might Will Still Change?
Will Still has been given plaudits for his adaptability, and this has been shown at times in his Southampton tenure, with substitutions and changes of system working in the team’s favour on a few occasions so far this season.
While he may do a straight swap for Stewart and bring in one of the other three players who’ve played at centre forward, this would mean the Saints have to adapt to find other paths to goal. Still wants his team to get crosses into the box, but only Stewart has proven to be good enough to latch onto the end of them so far.
Otherwise, Still could revert to the 4-2-3-1, maximising creativity over output, authorising tricky wingers such as Leo Scienza, Jay Robinson and Tom Fellows to come inside and onslaught the opposition. This method, while more chaotic than methodical, would surely reap goals, just by dragging the team up the pitch.
Saints aren’t short of technical players who can help with this; Caspar Jander, Shea Charles, and Finn Azaz are excellent ball players who can offer the service to the wide players.
Saints should be aiming to have possession in high and narrow areas, where their most technical footballers can operate, which is a change from having the majority of it in the wide spaces and struggling to reach the frontman.
It remains to be seen what approach Will Still will take, but he has a perfectly timed international break to work on whatever it is!
