x

Southampton V Blackpool The Preview

Saints once again host Blackpool in the 4th round of the FA Cup as they did in 1976, will they go on to emulate the victory that day and indeed end up at Wembley winning the thing and yes we thought we had no hope of that 47 years ago too.

The chances of Saints reaching an FA cup final in 1976 were far greater than they are in 2023 and the fans had also been unhappy with their manager, who wasn't taking us to the runaway promotion push that was demanded, but all that was about to change.

Fast forward to 2023 and the situation is slightly different, but the aim is still the same hopefully we can go on a decent FA Cup run that will also see it motivate us in the Premier League.

I would expect a much changed side for this one due to several reasons, suspension, opponents in a lower league and the small matter of a do or die Carabao Cup semi final 2nd leg on Tuesday at Newcastle United being the main ones.

Blackpool are on as bad a run as Saints in their Championship campaign, although they beat Nottingham Forest in the 3rd round of the FA Cup 4-1, they have not won a game in the League since the 1st November, losing 6 and drawing 4 in a 10 game run without a win.

That Forest victory shows that they should be taken seriously so Nathan Jones has to pick his side carefully.

But I suspect that it will be a side that differs greatly from the one that played Newcastle on Tuesday, although at the back it will be a case of lacking options with neither the returning Jan Bednarek or new signing James Bree being able to play due to having represented Villa and luton respectively in the 3rd round of the competition so therefore being cup tied.

I would not be surprised to see Willy Caballero a rare game in goal, but along the back line it is anyone's guess, I presume that we might have to go to a back four, if only for the fact we only have two centre halves available, unless Nathan Joes throws in a youngster.

James Ward Prowse will obviously be a given, but in front of the defence it is anyone's guess who will fill those roles.

What we want from this game though is a victory and we will be confident of getting it even with our fringe players in the side, the truth should be that they will be too strong for Blackpool, the likes of Sekou Mara, Ainsley Maitland- Niles, Joe Aribo could all be in contention with perhaps a few of our highly rated youngsters given an opportunity.

This game is not firing the fans up, they have eyes on Tuesday and indeed the bigger picture in the FA Cup, but it is still a competition that we want to do well in, however the fans werent exactly salivating over this one in 1976 and their modern day counterparts are following suit, their will undoubtably be a lower crowd at St Mary's than there was at the Dell 47 years ago.

What to read next:

Leeds keep home run going against lively Middlesbrough
This time we were made to work hard for our home win, but two late goals proved to be enough to take the points against Middlesbrough.
Leeds ease to comfortable win over Derby
The game played out as most of the fans on both sides would have predicted, apart from the identity of the two goalscorers. It took a while for us to break down a stubborn Derby County defence, but once we had scored the two goals there was only going to be one way this game was going to finish.
Leeds drawn at home to Harrogate in the FA Cup
Tonight’s draw for the third round of the FA Cup threw up several local derbies, and the most enticing of all must be our all-Yorkshire clash with Harrogate Town, with the two clubs being only 15 miles apart.
Disappointing Leeds go down at Blackburn
Our defeat to Blackburn Rovers has caused plenty of moaning on social media, while Daniel Farke has blamed our hectic fixture schedule. But it was a shame the team picked the game with our biggest travelling support of the season to serve up one of their worst away performances.
Blackburn Awaydaze
This season’s trip to Blackburn Rovers is tomorrow with kick-off at 1.30, provided the pitch has dried out enough after last week’s postponement. Once again it looks like we’ll be taking the biggest away following in the Championship this season.
Farke sees room for improvement despite victory
Leeds duly went back to the top of the table with a fairly routine victory over Luton Town, but Daniel Farke thought the win should have been even more emphatic when he spoke to the BBC after the game.
Leeds fighting spirit wins through as we beat Swansea to go top
Leeds were twice behind in this incredible game at Swansea City, and then seemed to have victory snatched away right at the death. But each time we fought back and our sheer determination finally secured the victory that we needed to finish the weekend on top of the Championship.
Swansea Awaydaze
Our visit to Swansea City is on Sunday with a 3pm kick-off, and once again we’re being televised live on Sky Sports, which will be handy for those of us who can’t get to South Wales on a Sunday.
Farke complains bitterly about Firpo suspension
We had a surprise yesterday morning, as we found out that that Junior Firpo had been given a three match suspension as a result of an incident in the match at Millwall. Our manager has complained about the short notice when he was preparing his team to face QPR, and about the FA’s process itself.
Leeds labour to victory over stubborn QPR
We made hard work of winning this game, but we finally put the match beyond Queens Park Rangers with a second goal deep into injury time, sending the visitors to the bottom of the table.