A big game for both Southampton & Bournemouth this evening, but for Russell Martin there is a lot more than just the points, the focus will be on his tactics and the performance and it will go a long way to deciding his future as Saints boss.

Bournemouth fans have tried to generate some sort of rivalry over the past decade or so, with no real rivals of their own they looked across the New Forest to us, but the truth is that for us there will only be one Auld Enemy and that is of course Portsmouth, the Cherries remain just a distraction.

Tonight they will be hoping to hammer another nail in their coffin, but as they sit on only 5 points themselves, they are on stony ground and will find themselves only a point ahead of us in the relegation battle and only 2 points off the drop zone.

So they have just as much riding on tonight's game as Saints, although for us there is perhaps a little more than just points, there is the future of Russell Martin under the microscope.

His possession football game has come into focus over the weekend, not just the way that Saints are playing it, but how it is now the in vogue way of playing, but the problem is seen as the fact that most clubs do not have the standard of playing squad to be able to play it.

That is very much the situation at St Mary's and tonight at the Vitality it will be just as much about the performance as it will be the result, there will be some Southampton fans who will almost welcome defeat as it would mean that Russell martin might be sacked.

I am not one of those, I want him to succeed, indeed I want every Saints manager and player to succeed, as that will hopefully mean the club itself will prosper,.

But that doesn't mean that I think the manager is doing well, he succeeded last season and got us promoted, but this season he has shown himself to be inflexible with his tactics and that has caused us problems, for a manager, any manager it is a results driven occupation and you are judged on your current set, not previous seasons.

Against Ipswich there was some flexibility when compared to previous games, we seemed to clear the ball, when previously we might have passed it, but that is not enough, we also lack leadership, Flynn Downes showed he is the best we have and things were an improvement, but the late Ipswich equaliser was down to a lack of organisation, we had everyone in the penalty box and no one near enough to the Ipswich players outside the box to close them down.

If we can progress a little bit more tonight, then we can get something out of this game, but only if the manager has accepted that he cannot be so rigid in the way he employs his tactics.

In terms of selection I don't see much changing from the starting line up against Ipswich, the only two changes I can see possibly being made is Kyle Walker-Peters back in for Charlie Taylor and Ben Brereton Diaz replacing Cameron Archer.

If both of those were made it would be hard on Taylor, who brought some experience and leadership into the side against Ipswich and Kyle Walker-Peters would be an asset with his pace, personally I would like to see both accommodated in the side.

Up front Archer has shown he can finish in the Carabao Cup but has yet to do so in the League, that penalty miss may be a weight on his shoulders.

But for us tonight will be about keeping it tight and not making those mistakes that we have made in the first 5 games, play possession football, but not to the degree that we have been doing.

In Adam Lallana & Mateus Fernandes we have outlets, we don't need to pass the ball around the back endlessly, get it to these two quickly and they can create chances for the forwards.

Tyler Dibling is on fire at present, but if we don't get him into the game then he will be doused by the Cherries, if we get the ball to him quickly he can do some damage.

So a big big game, the result of course matters, we need the points and pulling out of the bottom 3 would be a big psychological boost, but it is the way that we play that is the major focus, is Russell Martin flexible enough to learn his lessons and adapt his tactics to the players he has at his disposal ?

That is the big question that needs to be answered this evening, managers that stick to their guns resolutely usually fail at some point, those that continue to adapt their thinking and evolve their tactics succeed, we will find out soon whether Russell Martin is the former or the latter.

All Photos Via Reuters

Mattsgrandad added 13:10 - Sep 30 Why not play KWP in front of Taylor as Taylor is the better defender IMO GOOD LUCK TONIGHT SAINTS COYR
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Bowlercow added 13:35 - Sep 30 Anyone who has watched the Everton and Ipswich games will know that our possession game has been watered down This is backed up by the stats SR are known to put a lot of emphasis on those stats That's why we ended up with Nathan Jones As he told us he was one of the best in Europe according to the stats KWP has to return purely because he is quicker than Taylor and with them relying on breakaways his pace will be vital Their back four has an average age of 21 so I think BBD should play as a number 9 to rough them up a bit As they say no easy games in the PL I look forward to hearing the luck ones who have tickets COYS

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