Southampton V Leeds United The Preview Friday, 29th Sep 2023 09:41 There is no dressing up this game, after four straight defeats Russell martin and his team have to show the Saints supporters that they are over their blip and ready to get the season back on track. Last season Leeds United visited St Mary's in the first home game of the season, coming after a 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur that was something of a debacle, the mood in the fanbase wasn't good, it was even worse on the hour mark when the visitors went 2-0 up. But a late rally saw Joe Aribo in the 70th minute & then Kyle Walker Peters with 9 minutes left rescue a point, talking of points, the point is here that a game of football isn't over until it's over and sometimes in these days of fire drills, those who stay put see a game turned on it's head.
Hopefully that won't be the case on Saturday, no one can dress up the last four games, but on a positive note after the two heavy defeats in the first of them, the performances against Ipswich and Middlesbrough were marked improvements, however as much as we were better set out in both games, stupid mistakes brought on by our own insistence to pass the ball in tight situations at the back cost us dearly. Russell Martin has told us that it is still a work in progress and things take time, I can accept that, it has been a difficult couple of months with players coming and going, but what I would say is that when you are trying to introduce a new strategy to a squad where the players that were already at the club are getting used to it, it is going to even tougher for new arrivals to slot into a system that has yet to be fine tuned. This being the case I think that part of our failure in the past few games has been the fact that it seems to be too rigid, we should be introducing it gradually rather than all at once. The players themselves are not in a confident mood, therefore they need to build that confidence up, they are not ready to pass pass & pass, they need to have the option to perhaps give the ball a good hoof when they are under pressure. Not all the time, but sometimes it has to be done.
At Boro we kept playing ourselves into cul de sacs, always having to keep passing and waiting for the perfect ball, we have some fast players up front, sometimes when under pressure put it over the top for them to run onto, it might just work, it did for Sunderland & Leicester. So we go into this game a little more confident and hopefully a little more drilled than a week ago and it is now time for the squad to start to show that, however what will Russell Martin see as his best line up ? At the back he has decisions to be made, at Middlesbrough in the first half our back four looked better than it has been for most of the season, well for 43 minutes at least before we handed them an equaliser on a plate. Mason Holgate got the blame, but it was not entirely his fault, yes he got caught in possession, but when that happens those around you are equally culpable, where were the shouts of "man on" or "away"
I was worried by the fact that Russell Martin took Holgate off at half time, that was not a very good sign and it will not have exactly made his relationship with the player strong. I can understand that Martin will have players he trusts and are his favourites, in dropping Ryan Manning at Boro, he showed that he is prepared to pick players on merit, on subbing Holgate at the first mistake and bringing on Manning with indecent haste, he perhaps indicated that he was trying to make a point about Manning being his preferred choice. So does he risk Holgate in the starting line up against Leeds, another mistake will have the fans on his back and indeed potentially the teams back. It's a tricky one, the back four in the first half against Boro were better than the second half version, but with manning not exactly a fans favourite and Holgate not far behind him it is a tricky one. I thought the midfield at Boro worked first half as well, a holding player to protect the back four and then both Smallbone & Downes.
Likewise as a duo Adams & Adam Armstrong worked well, we have options going forward, the issue is defending and not so much scoring, keep it tight at the back and stop giving the opposition goals and we will start scoring them ourselves at the other end. Personally I would not veer too much from the starting line up last week, it is about building from the back, the only choice for me is whether it is Manning or Holgate. Yes we have some talented players on the bench and indeed who didn't make the bench, but when you look at hose players, Stuart Armstrong aside, who seems to be about cameo roles off the bench these days, can we honestly say that any of them have really demanded to be in the starting line up from their performances.
I would say only Sam Edozie could feel truly hard done by, by his omission. So this is a game that could be one of those in a season that is a catalyst, but at this point is it a catalyst for the revival or for those who are already demanding a change of manager. At this stage we should not be talking about the manager being sacked, he should be given a chance and 8 games is not enough, but even I can't deny that if it becomes 5 in a row then there are serious questions to be asked. To lose a couple on the bounce, even 3 is just sometimes bad luck, but although luck isn't exactly with us at present, the truth is we only have ourselves to blame, our failure to implement the system.
That goes back to whether Russell Martin is flexible enough to accept that it will need time and the players themselves need to be able to have the licence to go off piste sometimes when the pressure is on. I harp on about there being no leader on the pitch and that is a problem, but I would suggest that it is also an issue with the team communicating with it's manager. James Ward Prowse was a leader by example, but he was not a leader of men. however he was a senior pro in the dressing room who by his performances was undroppable, as Captain he could approach the manager without fear to discuss the worries within the squad.
We do not have a senior pro in the dressing room now and by that I mean someone like Ward Prowse who is a mainstay in the team, respected by all at the club. Nail on the head here, this is the root of all our problems, yes I have said it before, but over the last few seasons we still had experienced pros as mainstays in the team, now we don't. We can win this game, Russell Martin needs to show he is a leader, that means also showing that he is not rigid in his ways, that sometimes you have to tweak things a little and play a little differently at times. He has to show he is not a one trick pony and that he can adapt to situations, I think he showed that a little at Middlesbrough, but not quite enough and at the first sight of trouble did not hold firm in terms of keeping things the same at the start of the second half. By 2.30pm on Saturday things could be looking very bad or they could be looking up, personally I am going there wanting the latter, I want the the manager to succeed, I want the team to succeed and I want Sport Republic to succeed. The first games of this season were enjoyable, the last four haven't been, let's hope that everyone plays their part in making it enjoyable again by the final whistle. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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