Southampton At Queens Park Rangers The Preview Friday, 22nd Dec 2023 09:53 Saints make their shortest trip of the season on Saturday when they travel to West London to take on QPR, on paper this points to an away win, but as we know there are few easy games in this division, but we have to be clinical. All Southampton supporters eyes will be on the lunchtime kick off in the Championship, with the two clubs directly above us taking each other on as Ipswich Town visit Leeds United. That means one thing for sure, at least one of them has to drop points, perhaps a draw would be a good result, barring that a Leeds win, Ipswich have to be drawn back into the pack over the next couple of months and if the Tractor Boys are defeated and we beat QPR then suddenly we are only 7 points behind them and the pressure will be on.
QPR start the day in the bottom 3, they have had an awful run, but a month ago they started a winning streak of three straight games, although in the last two they have drawn with Plymouth and then lost to fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday in their last outing. This shows that there is little difference between the bottom of the division and at the moment everyone else bar the top two, this is a day when we really have to start closing gaps above us and widening them below. At home though, QPR really haven't been that hot, just two wins, Stoke & Hull, 3 draws & 5 defeats, so this is a very winnable game for Saints, but we will need to work hard to win it. Most Saints supporters will not want to look much past the starting line up last week against Blackburn, the back four is solid and should not be tampered with, the midfield trio worked well, although there is a clamour for Shea Charles to come in ahead of Will Smallbone and it is only the front trio that is interchangeable at present with Adam Armstrong the only player who is a definite starter.
So who should Russell Martin play alongside him, Sam Edozie pressed his claim last week as did Joe Aribo who added a bit of strength to a more fluid formation. But there is plenty in reserve with Charley Alcatraz, Ryan Fraser, Shea Charles and even Che Adams all having put in some good performances this season and Sekou Mara although much maligned in some quarters, having let no one down in the cameo roles he has played and getting a much deserved goal against Blackburn .
The key to our success over the past months has been our team ethic, some will not like to admit this and single out individual players for criticism, but the fact is if these players have been so bad and merely passengers then we would not have won so many games and remained unbeaten for 14 games with 2 or 3 of them in the side. All good teams win and lose as a unit, although individual errors will happen, we win or lose as a team and that is right. As I keep saying this is a war of attrition and we just need to keep going and this trip to London is the first in a quartet of games that will perhaps be pivotal in the season, it doesn't matter how we do it, we just need to win games and keep winning games.
My one criticism last week though was the substitutions, we took the foot off the gas far too early, yes Blackburn were down to 10 men when we went 2-0 up, but with our goal difference we really needed to rack up a few goals to start to get nearer those above us, a couple of injury time goals did not flatter the performance, but we could have and should have hit 6 and playing the final 15 minutes plus injury time with half of the outfield players having been substituted out did not help. I appreciate that it is a squad games and that players have to be given game time, but the first priority has to be to win games of football and win them well. Back in September Russell Martin was much maligned, however he has earned our respect with a 14 game unbeaten run that has never been achieved at Championship level or higher for Southampton FC, Ted Bates, Lawrie McMenemy, Chris Nicholl, Gordon Strachan, Nigel Adkins, Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman and a host of other Southampton managers, great and not so great have all tried and failed to manage 14 League games unbeaten at this level, so Russell Martin does deserve some credit.
But unbeaten runs mean nothing, it is about achieving the ultimate aim and that is promotion, first job is to secure the play off spot and the second to slowly but surely cut the gap between us and second place and beating Queens Park Rangers is a part of that process that needs to be done and dusted with clinical precision. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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