Southampton left the John Smith’s stadium disappointed to take one point and not three, but one player clocked up a remarkable statistic during the game.
The midfielder in question was Flynn Downes, on loan from West Ham. The 24-year-old worked with Russell Martin when the pair were both at Swansea City and Downes was one of the Southampton manager’s main transfer targets in the summer.
The reason Martin likes Downes so much is his passing ability and composure in possession. In the Huddersfield draw Downes showed just how good he is in possession as he made a remarkable 157 touches, completed 141 passes and only lost possession six times in the entire game, as per Sofascore.
To put this statistic into context, Huddersfield’s starting central midfield duo of Jonathan Hogg and David Kasumu only managed 35 passes combined.
Flynn Downes is key to Southampton’s possession style
What has been clear to see since Downes got up to match fitness is that he is absolutely pivotal to how Southampton play. He is Martin’s philosophy in the form of an individual footballer, with his constant desire to keep the ball moving a delight to watch in full flow.
Downed is nailed-on as the starter in the holding midfield role in Southampton’s three-man midfield, picking the ball up off the centre-backs and getting Southampton moving through the thirds.
His manager at Swansea and now Southampton could not be complimentary enough of the English midfielder, with Martin saying after the 3-1 win over Birmingham City: “Flynn has been monstrous. Physically he is a beast and he has so much composure on the ball. His teammates really appreciate the role that he has because it’s so tough being that guy’.
That being said, critics of Southampton’s failure to beat 21st-placed Huddersfield despite having 78% of the ball may argue that Downes and his teammates need to do more with the overwhelming majority of possession they tend to have in matches.
Will Flynn Downes stay at Southampton after this season?
Unfortunately for Southampton and Martin, it looks increasingly unlikely Downes will stay at the club permanently when his loan ends at the end of the season.
There was not option to buy included in the loan deal that brought Downes to St Mary’s and West Ham are expected to welcome the player back to the club in the summer with a view to a bigger role moving forward.
Add to that the fact that West Ham need to fill their homegrown quota and, perhaps more so, that Downes is a boyhood West Ham fan who will be desperate to make the grade at the club he supports and a deal looks difficult.
However, there are a number of good midfielders at West Ham blocking Downes’ pathway to a starting spot, one of whom is Southampton’s former captain James Ward-Prowse.
The aim for Southampton is a return to the Premier League at the first attempt. If Southampton can achieve that goal, the lure of being a starter in the Premier League under a manager that rates him incredibly highly in Martin may be too good a career opportunity for Downes to let pass him by.