 Thursday, 21st Apr 2011 10:28 Who will partner Rickie Lambert up front at Brighton or could Saints opt for 4-5-1. With Lee Barnard certain to miss the trip to Brighton and possibly a lot longer, Nigel Adkins now has to have a hard think about his attacking options for the next few weeks. The obvious choice would be to replace like for like as such and put in David Connoly, but the question mark over that selection would be fitness Connolly has not had many 90 minutes under his belt and with his injury record it may be better to nurse him through the final games. Another option would be to play Guly up front, certainly this has worked before with good effect and in truth the Brazillian prefers situations were his work is in the final third and not having to chase back so much. Likewise Adkins could opt to play Adam Lallana in a more forward role. Forte or N'Guessan could even be played as forwards. An outside option could be to push Danny Butterfield up top, before you scoff remember that when this was done for Crystal Palace in the Championship that Butterfield scored a hat trick, he has a little bit of guile in his locker so I wouldnt rule out this choice, but in fairness i would say we would need an injury to Guly or Connolly before we try this. Adkins could also opt for a change in formation, last season Saints were solid when they employed 4-5-1 with lambert as the lone striker and he certainly seemed to thrive on this, but do Saints now have the personel to operate this. Certainly in the centre it would be strong, Hammond & Stephens sat behind Guly who it has often been said has always played best in the hole behind the front man, now could be a time to see if that is true. But theproblem with this would be getting men up front to support Lambert quick enough and on the flanks we might not have enough pace to do this. Ging into the toughest away game of the season might not be a good time to try a new formation and would it be folly to do this and invite Brighton on to us. I said earlier in the season that the depth of Saints squad would be the key and this will be the case, certainly there is no other side in the division who could keep winning as we have done with the number of players we have on the treatment table, if you look at our starting line up in January, we will probably be missing at least four of those at the Withdean, five if Lallana isnt ready. But the players stepping in to the breach are more than good enough, in some cases maybe not as good as the players they are replacing, but certainly better than those they will face, Connolly when fit would walk into any League 1 side as would Chaplow, Richardson, N Guessan, Martin, Gobern & even Forte six players who arent in the starting line up of late and all straining at the leash. Nigel Adkins will miss Lee Barnard on Saturday, there can be no doubt that Barnard has been our best striker all season, as shown by his goals tally against his games and minutes on the pitch, but he has many options to replace him and he has many options should his first not work out. This is the time of the season when managers earn their corn, the next fortnight will earn Nigel Adkins his place in Southampton FC history. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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