Welcome to the first edition of the Daily Echo’s brand new Saints Player Power Rankings. If you’ve taken a look at our extended player ratings, you will have seen that we are aiming to take a far deeper and nuanced approach to the tried and trusted system of football player ratings.
Each week we re-watch the most recent Saints game as many times as possible so as to analyse the performances of each player and rate them on a scale of A+ to F. Now, we can introduce the second part of this process with our regular power rankings where we will analyse the season-long performances of each Saints player to eventually lead us to a Player of the Season.
We wanted to wait for the first set of matches to occur rather than make snap judgements while only players with a minimum of 300 minutes have been included. We have also only taken into account Saints’ Premier League fixtures so the Carabao Cup victory at Cambridge United has been left on the cutting room floor.
This should become clearer and clearer as we go throughout the weeks but drop your thoughts below and without further adieu, let’s get started.
Honourable Mentions:
With only five spots up for grabs there were naturally going to be some heavy-hitters just missing out. A disappointing opening performance at Spurs to follow last season's disastrous ending made it seem that perhaps we’d be struggling to fill these slots at all but a stark improvement over the past month has seen numerous players rise up the rankings and thinking.
All of Saints’ new recruits have played their part and the presence of two of the summer signings is a testament to the good work done to improve Ralph Hasenhutt’s options. Additionally, there are one or two far less surprising and familiar names that just can’t be ignored.
But before we get into those, let’s recognise an honourable mention who couldn’t quite crack the top five but deserves his plaudits.
Moussa Djenepo
Minutes Played: 420
The potential inclusion of Djenepo on this list would have been laughed off just a few months ago but now it is surely far less of a surprise. Thrust into a left-wing-back role during pre-season thanks to Romain Perraud’s broken foot suffered at the back-end of last season Djenepo took to the new position with trademark enthusiasm.
While he added an element of unpredictability in attack, Djenepo was potentially even more impressive defensively and while he was caught out of position on occasions, he displayed real tenacity and concentration in his side’s own defensive third.
The Moussa Djenepo of the past that operated solely off of instinct seems to have been replaced t a slightly more thoughtful version and he has reaped the rewards with increased minutes.
Below is one example of that newfound diligence from the 2-1 win at Leicester. With grass ahead of him and the ball at his feet, Djenepo stops his run and passes rather than continuing with it.
Would the Djenepo of old simply dribbled until he lost it? It seems likely based on what we have witnessed over the past few years.
Below you will see two maps of Djenepo's touches from the 2-1 win at Leicester. The first shows his touches through the first 54 minutes of the game - until James Maddison gave the Foxes the lead - while the second includes all of his touches for the rest of the afternoon.
With the score at 0-0, his role was a primarily defensive one before springing into attack when his team needed a spark. Now, with Perraud fit once more, it seems unlikely that Djenepo will be able to hold onto his spot but the Malian is a great option Hasenhutl knows he can at least largely rely upon.
5. James Ward-Prowse
Minutes Played: 591
This fifth spot was something of a toss-up but the Saints captain and last season’s unanimous Player of the Year has once again earned a mention.
On the stats sheet, Ward-Prowse has shown up in an important way this far. Top scorer through the 2021/22 campaign, the midfielder notched his first of the season on the opening day at Spurs while grabbing the assist for Che Adams’ winner at Leicester. Ward-Prowse has also created the fifth-most chances per game in the entirety of the Premier League with 2.5 as he continues to be one of the main creative forces of his side.
With added support thanks to the arrival of Romeo Lavia, Ward-Prowse has been handed slightly more freedom this season, operating more as a ten than typical eight against both Spurs and Chelsea.
That advanced role can be visualised quite clearly by his touch map against Tottenham, the vast majority of his touches coming in his side's attacking half.
Additionally, this point is supported by comparing his positioning last saeson with this.
Below is his heat map for the full 2021/22 Premier League season:
And here is Ward-Prowse's heat map for this season...
While there is significantly more data for last season, the main highlighted spot for the 2022/23 campaign thus far is further forward than his primary positions from 21/22.
However, unlike his counterparts on this list, Ward-Prowse hasn’t had a stand-out performance yet. Rather he has been steady and reliable throughout. This is neither better nor worse but it is something that is hard to recognise on a game-by-game basis but important to celebrate over the course of the season.
4. Che Adams
Minutes Played: 434
The bottle of ketchup has already displayed the inconsistency that comes with being Che Adams. A lacklustre pre-season saw the striker fail to get off the bench for the defeat to Spurs augmenting rumours of a possible departure in the closing weeks of the window.
But Adams answered those questions in emphatic fashion, putting in a battering ram performance in the 2-2 draw with Leeds before coming off the bench to score twice at Leicester. He followed that up with two goals at Cambridge before performing admirably once more against both Manchester United and Chelsea.
However, we’ve also been given yet another reminder of the feast or famine nature of Adams as he somehow contrived to head onto his own arm from roughly two yards out at Wolves before hitting the crossbar moments later. His side went on to lose 1-0.
The key with Adams, however, is what he adds to the team even when he is not scoring. A fighter and rough-and-tumble physical presence, the 25-year-old provides his side with a physical and emotional focal point. His battles with United’s centre-backs were particularly fun to watch as he tormented them despite not scoring.
Saints will still need more goals out of Adams but he is back to being one of the first names on the teamsheet and an essential part of this attack.
3. Armel Bella-Kotchap
Minutes Played: 495
One of two new signings on this list, eyebrows were raised when Bella-Kotchap started on the bench for Saints’ first game of the new season in North London. It turns out the centre-back was spared considerable embarrassment and after earning a place for the following week against Leeds, he has not looked back.
Initially playing in a back five alongside fellow centre-backs Mohammed Salisu and Jan Bednarek, Bella-Kotchap seemed to struggle at times with the aggressive nature of his role at first, forced to get up the pitch.
Speaking about the differences between the two roles, Bella-Kotchap told the Daily Echo: “I think I’m more defensive when I play in the back four. In the back three I have opportunity to go forward but both suit me well."
While he showed promising signs, that first game against Leeds in the back five was likely his worst performance of the season and he has thoroughly improved to almost immediately become a crucial member of Hasenhuttl’s side.
The early signs of the partnership between Bella-Kotchap and Salisu are encouraging with the Ghanaian flourishing as the ‘firefighter’ of the duo, dropping deep when necessary to clean up while Bella-Kotchap is given more license to wander and assert his physicality higher up the pitch.
That said, highlights of Bella-Kotchap’s fledgling Saints career have included a stupendous last-ditch tackle to deny Raheem Sterling against Chelsea while he has shown his ability to impact the game in his side’s attacking box as well.
It’s still the earliest days of Bella-Kotchap’s Saints career but he looks tailor-made for the Premier League and should only improve as he learns and adapts to his new surroundings.
2. Kyle Walker-Peters
Minutes Played: 589
A consistent and reliable performer on both flanks last season, Walker-Peters is once again amongst the early contenders for Saints Player of the Year. His impact really can’t be overstated.
In a team that can often be seen lacking attacking thrust, Walker-Peters frequently provides that much-needed spark from his full-back or wing-back role. He scored the crucial equaliser to rescue a point against Leeds before helping turn the tide at Leicester when he found James Ward-Prowse to swing in the cross for Che Adams’ winner.
Particularly with Djenepo instructed to focus on defending, huge onus has been placed Walker-Peters to help his side in attack. After the win at Leicester, the full-back joked that he could barely walk and it's no surprise based on the amount of ground he routinely seems to cover.
The heat map below showcases just how much time he has spent in attack this season...
Defensively, Walker-Peters isn’t always quite as convincing and those occasional weaknesses were spotted at Spurs when the entire team struggled and more recently at Wolves where the 24-year-old was caught out high up the pitch in the build-up to the hosts' goal.
Walker-Peters’ role is of the ultimate all-action variety and as such there are going to be moments where he’s found out of position in attack, particularly when Saints’ opponents counter at speed like Wolves did but it’s still fair to question the speed of his recovery run.
His performance against Leeds garnered the maximum A+ ratings of the season thus far as he played a central role in lifting his side off of the canvas and it would be no surprise to see Walker-Peters in the running for Player of the Year at the end of this season once again.
1. Romeo Lavia
Minutes Played: 455
An absolute revelation since his arrival from Manchester City, Lavia has been so impressive in the first month of his professional career that he was subject to a £50m deadline-day bid from Chelsea. The offer was rejected but it’s a sign of how highly regarded Lavia already is both within Southampton and across the wider football landscape.
He was his side’s best performer in the 4-1 defeat to Spurs, wowing with his passing range (seen below as he finds Ward-Prowse streaking into the box) and calm demeanor on the ball while he was forced into (and thrived) in a more attritional role against Leeds and Leicester.
Dripping in confidence, Lavia does not appear fazed by any challenge he’s faced and while one could levy the blame for Leeds’ first goal in his direction, he has more than made up for that minor loss of concentration in the weeks since.
The highlight of Lavia’s Saints spell thus far came on the same day the promising start was forced into a hiatus as he equalised against Chelsea with a thunderous drive from the edge of the box before picking up a relatively serious hamstring injury in the second half.
Lavia’s ability to cover ground both on and off the ball has given his side added security defensively while allowing Ward-Prowse the freedom to push higher up the pitch. The 18-year-old has already shown himself to be one of Saints’ more important players and he was certainly missed in the defeat to Wolves.
Lavia’s emergence has been so striking that Saints felt comfortable enough to sanction Oriol Romeu a move back to Spain despite the youngster’s injury. Saints fans will be counting down the days to Lavia's return.
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