5 Tactical Conclusions From March
Published: 9th January 2025
Southampton’s Christmas form, Mancini at Inter, Lyon’s title chances and the ongoing struggles at Dortmund. With domestic leagues heading into the second half of the season, today Michael Cox delivers his 5 conclusions from March.
Southampton's recovery was the major Christmas story
Southampton's Christmas fixture list looked a nightmare, especially considering they'd replicated last season's poor form towards the end of March and the start of March. With fitness worries over key players, it seemed Christmas would be the time the Saints finally went marching out of the top four.
Instead, they collected ten points from four games, a hugely impressive haul considering they faced Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton in that time, as well as a tricky trip to Crystal Palace too. Rather than falling away from the Champions League positions, they increased their grip on fourth place with the 2-0 victory over Arsenal on the opening day of 2025.
Recent weeks has illustrated Southampton's tactical flexibility, too. Sadio Mane was deployed as a second striker against Chelsea and Arsenal, a brave approach against teams who were always likely to dominate the game anyway. But Southampton had even control and cohesion in deeper positions to play two strikers, and Mane's forward runs in advance of Graziano Pelle – who usually comes short, towards play – provided a different tactical option. He opened the scoring in both games.
Southampton are still considered outsiders for the top four, but they've sustained a challenge longer than anyone expected.
Roberto Mancini will take time to fix Inter
Walter Mazzarri was never going to last as Inter coach, and Roberto Mancini was an obvious replacement considering his previous success at the club.
Mancini is a curious coach, however, in the sense that it's difficult to work out precisely what his strengths are. He's never appeared the best man-manager or motivator around, he doesn't seem to be a training ground coach who drills his players relentlessly in a good defensive shape, and while he would probably consider himself a good tactician, sometimes he simply seems to confuse his players with his mid-game formation switches.
So far, the only certainty seems to be Mancini basing the side around Mateo Kovacic. The hugely talented Croatian can be used either as a number ten or a deep-lying playmaker, but it's the former role – which matches his squad number – that Mancini sees him in. He enjoyed a cautiously good March – he struggled against Udinese when Inter were faced with a packed defence, but scored in the 2-0 win at
