Harwood-Bellis: Why the new Southampton Way is the modern way to win

“Not good, not great, ok. Not a bad performance but not a really good one,” the manager summarised in his post-match interview for the club’s media channels.

In truth, it wasn’t an opening period that will live long in the memory on a night lit up by a sensational long-range goal by Kyle Walker-Peters, which arrived early in an improved second-half showing that saw Saints take three points over the Robins at St Mary’s.

There was, however, one passage of play that stood out from that forgettable first 45.

Eighteen minutes in, Saints had a goal kick. Gavin Bazunu played it short to Jan Bednarek on the edge of the six-yard box, despite the presence of City striker Tommy Conway in close proximity.

Bednarek passed the ball to Flynn Downes, who was stood near the penalty spot with a man on his back. He in turn found Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who had dropped into an unusual position to the right of the Saints six-yard box to receive the next pass.

Saints had still not left their own penalty area, but Harwood-Bellis injected some extra speed into the sequence with a first-time ball to Walker-Peters on the touchline, then did the same to find Downes, before Shea Charles turned away from his own marker as Saints sprung forward, crossing the halfway line at pace as the ball was returned to Walker-Peters, leaving City’s yellow shirts sprinting back, suddenly exposed.

In Bazunu, Harwood-Bellis and Charles, this was a strong Manchester City connection making Saints tick. But this is The Southampton Way now, as Martin watched on, clapping vehemently above his head, admiring the courage of his defenders to beat the press.

This City influence, and that of Pep Guardiola, is trickling down through the English game. The Championship looks different now to Saints’ last assault in 2011/12, and that’s not just the team in red and white stripes.

Harwood-Bellis may be young in years, but he’s wise to all this. He’s been taught to play this way since he joined the City Academy as a six-year-old.

Now 21, he’s already in his fourth season in the Championship following previous loan spells with Blackburn, Stoke and Burnley, with whom he won the title last season under another City man in Vincent Kompany, his idol.

“I don’t think it’s enough to not play football – I think you have to,” he shrugs. This is the new normal, particularly to a player born in 2002. “You look at the calibre of teams that have gone up, how they’ve gone up and the football they’ve played.

“I think if you were to fast forward ten years, more of the teams that get promoted will generally be the ones that are playing football and having their own identity.

“Obviously the way they play at City, they’ve dominated. I think a lot of managers have looked at it and, not copied, but put it in their own way.”

Taylor celebrates winning last season's Sky Bet Championship title with Burnley

You sense Harwood-Bellis would rather not get drawn into the comparisons between his parent club, his former club and his current one.

“The amount of times I got asked last year about Kompany and Pep – they’re completely different,” he insists.

“It does Vincent Kompany no justice if I say ‘it’s exactly the same as Pep’ because it’s not. He’s got his own way; they see football differently.

“Obviously people ask, ‘what was it like last year compared to this year?’ but that will do no justice to what the gaffer wants here, because it’s completely different.

“Ultimately it looks the same because you’re keeping the ball on the floor. I think you only really know when you’re in it how they look at it, but just because you keep the ball on the floor it doesn’t mean everyone’s copied Pep.”

He’s keen to hammer home that Martin’s vision is very much the manager’s own, and is full of admiration for the conviction and consistency of his messaging.

“What I love about the gaffer here is we could lose ten in a row and he’ll never change, because that’s the way he believes football should be played – and the lads do as well,” he adds.

“In those four games that we lost on the spin, there was no one saying, ‘I think we need to change what we’re doing’. It was, ‘we need to do what we’re doing more’, because we weren’t doing it properly.

“There’s no disasters, no crisis in our heads, we just look forward to the next game. I think the past 11 games have shown, barring the second half against Rotherham and Huddersfield, the way we want to play works, and we will dominate.

“There will be times when we’re under the cosh and teams are pressing us, and I think you feel it in the stadium as well – fans might want us to get it forward quicker, but it’s not going to happen, because that’s not how we’re setup.

“It’s good to have the backing from the manager. Even mistakes, he’s not bothered, because that’s how he’s asked us to play. It’s impossible to play how we’re going to play and not make mistakes – it’s just about minimising them, which I think we have done really well.”

The Stockport-born defender is a rugged-looking centre-half with a refined tactical nous

It’s clear Harwood-Bellis is a thinker about the game. He might fit the mould of old-school tough English centre-half with the skinhead haircut, but he’s a better player than that and a brighter character, too.

His potential as a leader was spotted by England Under-21 head coach Lee Carsley, who handed the defender the captaincy in March last year, a role he continues to fill following the summer’s triumphant European Championship campaign in which the Young Lions didn’t concede a single goal.

Harwood-Bellis “wouldn’t say a big voice” when describing himself in the dressing room “but when I need to speak or I think I’ve got an opinion, then yes”.

“I think it tested my leadership skills being captain of the Under-21s because I was one of the youngest. I’d obviously played in the Championship, but there was a lot of top Premier League players in that team,” he explains.

“The dynamic of me being the leader would probably be different to this year being captain of the Under-21s, because I’m one of the oldest, but I had to manage that, and I thought I did it well. That’s something I can use going into my career and life.

“I just try to be myself. I’m not trying to be a certain way as a captain – I’m just trying to be myself, trying to crack on and hopefully set the standard for the lads.”

Harwood-Bellis captained England's Under-21s to Euro 2023 glory

An insight into his mental approach comes when discussing Saints’ 1-1 draws with Rotherham and Huddersfield – games he’d already referenced himself – in which the team dominated without putting their opponents to bed.

“I think it’s just getting yourself into a mindset of, ‘this second half is going to be the hardest game of my life’, instead of thinking, ‘I just need to go out and do the same thing again’. You don’t, because they’re going to be better. I think that’s the most important thing going forward.”

The high esteem he’s held in by England was evident on the recent international break, when photos were released of Harwood-Bellis training with the senior team, something the player reveals wasn’t a first.

“I’ve trained with them before when it’s not been made public,” he says. “I missed the second one with a hamstring, but the first camp of this season I trained with them, and I trained with them last season as well.

“It wasn’t made public those times, which I probably prefer, but it was a really good experience to train with the senior team. Going forward in my career, it’s obviously making sure I’m with them permanently.”

Stockport-born Harwood-Bellis already has a rapport with Gareth Southgate: “He’s really nice, you can have really good conversations with him, and he’s obviously a really good coach as well.”

As for the players, he’s reluctant to pick a standout trainer, but facing up to Harry Kane, the country’s all-time leading goalscorer, has clearly left its mark.

“He’s good,” he reaffirms, typically understated, but the widening eyes tell you he means really good. “I don’t think I need to say too much, do I?” he laughs.

“To come up against him and test yourself in training – it might not be as intense, but he’s still unbelievable, you still have to be at the top of your game to even not look silly up there.

“It’s really good to test yourself, but all of them are a joke. The standard of training is unbelievable. There’s not a player that stands out that you think, ‘he’s not up to it’. They’re all different class – it’s a completely different level.”

Taylor rises to head home his first Saints goal, against Birmingham at St Mary's in October

It’s clear Harwood-Bellis has designs on reaching the very top. Why shouldn’t he? He’s been winning trophies all his life, from the FA Youth Cup and Under-21 Premier League to a unique double of Championship title and European glory on the international stage.

If he’s to win again in 2024, with Saints, the upcoming festive fixtures will go a long way to deciding it, he believes.

“I look at it as season defining, in a way – obviously it doesn’t definitely define your season, but it can set the tone,” he states.

“You can look at it in January when hopefully we’ve gone through a Christmas period where we’ve kept the run going. I could probably put a good bet on that if you do well in December, you’re probably up there.

“We had a sticky patch, but with us there was no panicking. There was no spike in our anxiety or fear or anything like that. We just kept the same level, as we are now – we’re unbeaten in 11 games and we’re still exactly the same as we were when we lost four in a row.

“I think that’s the key ingredient to being up there and making sure you stay up there as well – not being too low, nothing’s a crisis, because we know the level of the group, we know the manager and the staff will drive us, so I think it’s been a really good start, but this period now is massive for us going into January.”

Celebrating with centre-back partner Jan Bednarek (right)

This time last year, Harwood-Bellis’s table-topping Burnley had just scored twice in stoppage time to scrape past Rotherham, taking their tally to 38 points from 19 games. Saturday’s win over Cardiff took Saints, who sit fourth, to 37 from 19.

The Clarets went on to amass 101 points. Saints, despite the relentless pace being set by Leicester and Ipswich, remain on track to meet their target.

It was their form through the winter that left the rest trailing in Burnley’s wake – ten straight wins, seven clean sheets and 24 goals.

Now living through the Championship’s infamous nine-month slog as a champion, Harwood-Bellis feels in tune with what’s required to do it all over again.

“I think it helps a lot – obviously I’ve lived it and know what it takes,” he reasons. “I think there are a lot of lads in the dressing room who know what it takes – lads who haven’t experienced it but have the characteristics in them of what it needs to get promoted out of this league.

“I think we’ve got a good balance in the group. I’m just trying to do my best to help the people around me, as they are helping me.

“It helps me, psychologically, knowing I’ve done it before, and gives me that little edge of, ‘can I do it again?’ I think I can, so hopefully I can prove to myself that I can.”