The big question as I publish the preview for the trip to Aston Villa will be whether Russell martin will survive the rest of Friday, if he does then he has the chance to regroup and perhaps rethink how he has got us in this mess.

Whoever is in charge at Villa Park will have one advantage, they will have the 3 suspended players back from the debacle against Chelsea, that is the one plus point going into the game, we will be able to freshen up the squad.

But all of this will be of no use unless we change the way we play out of the back, most Saints supporters know that possession football is the name of the game these days, but the middle of the Premier League is full of teams who only play it to a certain degree, they know the time to put their foot through the ball and that is where they go wrong.

So the first choice for the manager is who plays in goal, Alex Mccarthy was dropped as clearly he can't play with his feet and Joe Lumley was better, but although Lumley made a few good saves on Wednesday evening, he was found wanting at other times so I would suspect that McCarthy will return and that could signify that Martin will at last adapt the way he has been playing from the back.

But I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

In the defence again I would expect something similar to the formation that he played against both Brighton & Chelsea, Taylor Harwood-Bellis will return from suspension in place of Jack Stephens, the only question is who plays alongside him, Jan Bednarek could well return to the side at the club he endured a torrid loan spell with.

With Flynn Downes and Tyler Dibling also back in the team it does at least give us some hope.

But the manager has to change the way he plays, as I said on Thursday, he has to adapt or go, we cannot play the style he wants to and to the level needed something has to change !

Put bluntly we have to put together an unbeaten run with a win or two here and there and at the moment it is hard to see where it has come from.

Russell Martin has already seen far too many points dropped by suicidal football along the back line, he has used up too many excuses, he is running out of time to turn things around, we cannot afford yet another game thrown away due to his tactics.

There is not a lot more to say about this game as it stands, two things will happen, either we have a manager who once again sticks religiously to his guns or something has to change. whether that is the manager himself by changing his tactics or just the manager being changed is yet to be known.

All Photos Via Reuters

mushinexile added 08:20 - Dec 6 Choose the eleven best footballers on the planet, mould them into a team. Get RM to manage them and watch them lose3-0 to the Dagenham girl pipers. Sack the none trick pony now and Ankerson with him. They are a cancer on the club.
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MytchettSaint added 08:39 - Dec 6 It sounds like you've reached the end of your tether Nick with the naivety being displayed by the manager. He should have gone after Wolves.
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halftimeorange added 11:21 - Dec 6 At last season's forum Russell told us that he would give us a team we could be proud of. What he didn't say is that this boast would not extend into this season if he got us promoted however, he is claiming to be proud of his team, irrespective it seems as to what the match score is. As a defender himself he should have first sorted out how the back six, including the goalkeeper, blend together and play to their collective abilities. This he has patently failed to do despite four of that six being some of our most talented (Ramsdale, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Sugawara). The other two normally being Bednarek (an undoubted trier) and Stephens (rated highly only by Russell himself) - arguably both Bree and Taylor are tidier players than Jack. On balance we are a bottom-six side with the players we have, made undeniably absolutely rock bottom by the idiotic perseverance of suicidal tactics by our manager. In January the club needs to have identified and purchased a Van Dijk type leader, Martin needs to be ordered to adapt or now or go at that time and Sports Republic should apologise for taking our season ticket money under false pretences. Sadly, none of the above will happen. It's an embarrassment.

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SanMarco added 11:59 - Dec 6 Choosing between these two keepers is like do I go for the blind one or the other who has no arms (apologies to disabled people but couldn't resist the analogy). My hopes are minimal: Simply please don't hand them a gift-wrapped early Christmas present. Make them earn the goals they score...
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davenbennett added 12:28 - Dec 6 I'm a season ticket holder, and go with 2 mates. None of us bothered going to Chelsea game. We are just fed up with arrogance of Martin and refusal to stop suicide soccer. Been a ST holder since the Dell went all seater. We've got a decent lower PL squad. Just need 2 or 3 better players, and get rid deadwood. But, it's now too late. Have to change manager and build team for Championship.

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BESaint added 13:42 - Dec 6 Brutal perhaps but the time to say goodbye to RM was after the Bournemouth game. We were going to lose to Arsenal anyway but it would have given time to prepare for the Leicester match.
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