Watching Southampton within earshot of Ivan Juric: ‘Come on, come on, come on!’

With the ball loose in midfield, Southampton’s Flynn Downes dallied on the halfway line, stuck in two minds over whether to push to win possession or retreat into his own half.

Ivan Juric shifted from his seat in the Johnny Haynes Stand and shouted, “Come on, come on, come on!”, urging the midfielder to take the gamble. Downes’ decision to take the other route was met with, “Dai cazzo!” (a slightly swearier version of that ‘come on!’ expression) and an exasperated huff from the man who signed an 18-month contract as Southampton’s new head coach on Friday.

While it’s unlikely his shout registered amid the collective hum at Craven Cottage, it was clear from Juric’s frustration that those passive decisions will not be tolerated moving forward. Having picked up a point in a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Fulham, Juric, who watched the game from the stands as he is yet to receive his work permit, might have seen something he can build on as he sets about overturning an eight-point deficit to Leicester City in 17th.

Under former manager Russell Martin, Southampton were at the heart of one of the league’s most-debated culture wars. Since the south coast club committed the first of their 11 errors leading to goals, critics questioned Martin’s unwavering commitment to his principles, primarily the dedication to playing out from the back.

Martin argued his style won promotion from the Championship, and there was no reason to deviate from something his players knew and were recruited to help carry out. After 15 games, 36 goals conceded, and a humiliating 5-0 home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, the club’s hierarchy decided it was time for a change.

Since taking over, interim head coach Simon Rusk has worked to bring Southampton back to basics. The 2-1 loss against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday highlighted the fighting spirit in the team — a quality present under Martin but often diminished after gifting preventable goals.

That spirit was again on show against Fulham to defend with commitment and intensity in the final stages as the west Londoners pushed for a winning goal. Instead of building through the thirds with risky short passes starting from the goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale, who used a bespoke four-finger glove on his left hand to protect the broken finger that has kept him out of action since the 2-0 defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers on November 9, sent the ball long at almost every opportunity.

Of the 35 passes Ramsdale attempted against Fulham, 31 were long balls, completing nine. In that game against Wolves, Ramsdale attempted 37 passes at an 89 per cent completion rate, and just eight were long balls. While communication was limited between Rusk and Juric ahead of the game, the shift in mentality and philosophy aligns Southampton with the reputation the Croatian developed during his coaching spell in Italy.

Juric underlined his footballing outlook in his first interview as Southampton manager, stressing the importance of being “aggressive”. While that adjective might draw unwanted connections to previous manager Nathan Jones, who often used that word at press conferences during his disastrous four-month stint in the 2022-23 season, it was the principle on which he recorded successive mid-table Serie A finishes with Torino.

Under Juric, Torino finished ninth in Italy’s top flight last season, conceding just 36 goals, only beaten by Champions League trio Inter (22), Juventus (31) and Bologna (32) — and the same number Southampton have conceded just 17 games in. His relative success in Turin earned him a move to Roma in September, where he failed to make the step up with more technically-gifted players and was sacked two months later after four wins from 12 league matches.

During the first half on Sunday, Juric directed right wing-back Yukinari Sugawara to link with Tyler Dibling, one of two split strikers, to attack via the right flank. On the odd occasion they combined in the Fulham half, Juric, who mainly spoke in Italian, shouted, “Bravo”. When out of possession, Sugawara was urged to close the opposition down quickly instead of falling back into a defensive shape — suggesting Juric is less concerned about building with short passes than winning the ball high up to launch fast transition opportunities.

Without an opportunity to work with the players on the training ground, Juric has not yet had the time to drill his ideas into the team, and there were moments when remnants of Martin’s style frustrated his successor. Whether it was from dalliances in possession, a reluctance to commit to an aggressive press, or attacking players failing to react to open spaces quickly enough to stretch the Fulham defence with sprints into space, Juric made it audibly apparent he is looking to speed up their approach in all areas.

Time, however, is not on his side. Southampton face West Ham United at home on December 26 before a trip to Crystal Palace at the weekend. Given their circumstances, both fixtures should be viewed as opportunities to record much-needed victories. However, expecting Juric to deliver immediate success with a squad recruited according to Martin’s principles would be unfair and unrealistic.

A week before he was eventually dismissed, English pundit Jamie Carragher likened tactically dogmatic coaches like Martin to wearing a T-shirt and shorts in the rain.

“I wake up every morning, and I hope the sun is shining so I can put a pair of trainers on with shorts and a T-shirt,” Carragher said on Sky Sports after Tottenham’s 4-3 defeat by Chelsea. “But if it’s raining, you put your coat on. You can’t just have one idea of how to play; it won’t work.”

In Juric, Southampton have found a coach whose ideology is more coat than T-shirt.

(Top photo: Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)