Saints have to see out the final two games of the season before they can start to plan for the next season, but their supporters want to see a team out against Brighton that looks to next season rather than this.
When Mohammed Elyounoussi arrived on the pitch against Fulham in the 73rd minute he did not receive a warm welcome to say the least, rightly or wrongly and I do think that at times Elyounoussi has received unfair stick, as he has been no worse than many other on the pitch with him, but the fans saw the Elyounoussi as very much part of the problem this season.
Add to that the fact that with his contract being up at the end of the season, it is very likely he will leave the club at the end of the season and so therefore most of the fans were of the same opinion, what was the point of playing him.
In fairness although going into this game our chances of escaping relegation were slim, Ruben Selles had to put out an experienced squad whilst there was still a chance, if he had put out kids in this game and lost and then won the last two games and we had been relegated by a poit or two, then he would have been vilified and accused throwing away our chances, that is football for you, as a manager you are damned if you do or damned if you dont.
But now relegation is already confirmed, there are no such excuses for the final two games of the season.
Of course no one expects wholesale changes and a team of youth and fringe players to go out there and take on two clubs who are battling for European qualification, but we do want to see some of those who are charged with taking the club straight back up next season in the team and some of those who have underperformed not !
In the starting line up I would want to see Gavin Bazunu restored, in truth Alex McCarthy has been no better and you would think that next season Bazunu would be undisputed number 1, last season he was one of the best goalkeepers in League One, but this season he was thrown to the wolves, you can't throw in an inexperienced 20 year old goalkeeper into the Premier League unless you have a well organised and drilled defence in front of him to bring him through games, we certainly didn't have that.
So play Bazunu, let him continue his learning curve and come back stronger next season.
In the centre of defence the decision might be taken out of Selles hands with both Salisu & Bella-Kotchap likely to miss the game through injury, any combination of Caleta-Car, Lyanco & Bednarek will do.
At Full back it will be harder to make a choice, but I would go for James Bree at right back and KWP on the left,
Bree might not be everyone's cup of tee, mainly due to his perceived connection to Nathan Jones and damned by association, but he could be a key player next season, he is a player with extensive experience in the Championship, therefore play him in the final two games rather than Ainsley Maitland-Niles who being on loan is not likely to return next season.
I'm not sure if Will Smallbone is available to play now that the Championship season is over for Stoke, but if he is play him alongside Romeo Lavia as a holding midfielder and play JWP in a more advanced role.
Likewise Nathan Tella, he has scored for fun in the Championship, it would be nice to see if he would do it in the Premier League now.
But it is probably on the bench that we would like to see some of our up and coming B Team players sitting on Sunday.
Although I think it is fair to say that some Saints fans would clamour for Dominic Ballard to start, I would suggest that he would be better coming off the bench, his goal at Cambridge in the League cup has given him a higher profile than perhaps it merits, but he is an undoubted talent and giving him some game time off the bench in the latter stages of the Brighton game would please most fans.
The same could be said for Lewis Payne and Tyler Dibling, the former also played in that League cup the, the latter has yet to play for the first team, although he appeared on the bench at Brentford at the end of last season.
Kamari Doyle is only 17 but is highly rated, perhaps a big ask for him to play this season, but wouldn't rule it out next season, likewise Diamond Edwards who played for the first team in pre season and also in that League cup tie at Cambridge as a late sub, but unfortunately a cruciate injury ended his season shortly after, he turning 20 in August could well make a big contribution in the Championship.
It is now time to look to the future, this is where the club's interests and Ruben Selles may differ, the club and indeed the fans want to see some of the underperformers left on the sidelines and look to those who will still be here next season.
But it is likely that Ruben Selles will not be here at St Mary's, usually when a coach steps up to the first team job and then fails, it ends his time at that club, that is likely for Selles, the sad thing is that with experience he might well have been a good manager for Southampton in 2-3 years time, but he took over the job having never managed an adult side, the club failed him by not bringing in an experienced assistant, instead plugging that gap by moonlighting B Team manager Dave Horseman, a man with little experience coaching above academy level.
So it would be natural for Selles to look towards his own future in the final two games, if he is to look for his next job in the summer then no one could blame him for trying to end the season without two big scorelines against him on his CV.
So if you were Ruben Selles what would you do ? I would suggest that you would stick with the experienced players, OK you know what you are going to get, albeit usually a 1 or 2 goal deficit defeat.
There will be those that will point to Selles record of chopping and changing each week, both in his starting line up as well as multiple substitutions as one of the reasons that we have gone down, he didn't know his best side and kept throwing the dice so to speak, that being the case then perhaps he will try his one remaining option and that is ditch those that have let us down and bring in those that are not part of the problem but could be part of the future and therefore the solution.
So the question is if Ruben Selles is brave enough to try and do something different in the finale to the season, or whether he is just prepared to coach it to a whimper.