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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



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stmichael added 09:57 - Sep 29
BREE BEDNAREK MAN CITY LOANEE KWP
Drop Fraser
Play Edozie
-5

SaintNick added 10:27 - Sep 29
On what basis do you suggest that Bree is worth a game, he has only played one game this season, that at Gillingham, where his short back pass resulted in their opening goal.
1

pjt50 added 11:28 - Sep 29
Be fair, these days the shout to Holgate had to be “person on” which must take at least half a second longer to get out. Could make all the difference.
0

SaintPaulVW added 12:53 - Sep 29
I'd like to see Stu Armstrong and Edozie start for Smallbone and Fraser.

KWP should play on the right, so Manning should start.

Jan B and THB need more time together, similarly Downes and Charles.

The more defensive set up last week was an improvement.

Just got to hope for a bit of luck to come out way.

COYR
4

WestSussexSaint added 13:06 - Sep 29
If you are going to SMS tomorrow please SUPPORT the team.

Booing during the match or at half time does not help the players and ultimately helps generate the mistakes and lack of ambition in play that we all don’t want to see.
10

LondonSaint76 added 14:48 - Sep 29
hMuch has been said in recent weeks about the way RM insists the team plays and the need for flexibility in his approach to help stem the number of costly errors that have led to us conceding goals and also making us somewhat easy to play against. On Saturday we have Leeds coming to town with a certain Joel Piroe on board, a player I really wish we had signed, but that’s not the point I am trying to make; in Piroe not only do Leeds have a top class striker at this level on a good run of form but they also have a player that has lived the ‘Rustyball experience’ first hand for the last couple of seasons - he will therefore be able to give the Leeds coaching staff all the inside info on exactly how RM sets up on top of what they already know. Therefore this would be the PERFECT time for RM to throw Leeds a complete curve ball by mixing it up tactically and ditching the tippy tappy in favour of a more direct style of play especially in our defensive half of the field - it might just work wonders as Leeds won’t be expecting it…
4

Boris1977 added 17:11 - Sep 29
Agree with most of the above and your article Nick. Despite RM's so far dogmatic system we cannot sack him until a better candidate is available.

Not going tomorrow but I'll watch with low expectation and hope for a point if not a clean sheet.

COYRs
1

Block8 added 18:53 - Sep 29
Make Bednarek captain, give him the responsibility for organising the defence & I think he will rise to the challenge. AND drill into the players that we cannot push everyone on as we lack recovery pace. This game needs a result more than a performance!
6

sledger added 01:13 - Sep 30
not enough experience,not enough characters and carrying to many passengers
1

Boris1977 added 10:09 - Sep 30
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2023/sep/28/girona-la-liga-top-first-t

RM and sports direct could learn a thing or two here - particularly the penultimate paragraph about changing tactics when required and signing players to play their system rather than trying to make players fit into a system they're not good enough to to do
0

IanRC added 18:35 - Sep 30
Look what happens when you play your better players (eg. Sulamana and Alcaraz) rather than your favourites Martin. Hope that lesson is well and truly learnt today. Also hope you apologised to Alcaraz.
1


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