Saints travel up to Leicester knowing that it is almost certain that they will just be in the play offs come the end of the season, however there is still the feint hope of 3rd place to play for, however the Foxes are playing for a bigger prize.

After the dismal display that was the trip to Cardiff City Saints have to pick themselves up and go again, despite the fact that it is almost all eyes on the play offs now for Southampton supporters.

So will Russell Martin make sweeping changes or will he take the viewpoint that at Cardiff it was down to poor finishing rather than the overall performance.

I would hope that he would take that path, but I fear that after his substitutions on Saturday, that he does not know what to do for the best, although I would think that he will not start with 3 wingers on the pitch, as he ended the game with at the Cardiff City Stadium.

The absence of Flynn Downes at Cardiff was a big factor in our defeat, just when he needed a big strong central midfield player though, he dropped him from the squad, Shea Charles has been in and out of the squad lately and it has cost us when he is not available, it is strange why Martin chooses to drop him from the squad after he has come on as a sub and done a job.

So I would not even hazard a guess just which starting line up Russell Martin will choose for this one.

The frustrating thing about Saturday and indeed a lot of the last two months or so, is that the manager just doesn't seem to be able to manage his squad, he doesn't keep faith when things are tough, it is easier to change both in the starting line up and the quite frankly shocking substitutions made.

My fear is that one again it will be change for change's sake in a team and indeed squad that has absolutely no direction or leadership on or off the pitch at present.

The one hope against Leicester is that we do have quality in the side, maybe they will find professional pride and dig in and find something that the manager has failed to find in the last months.

The sad thing is that back in February Russell Martin had found a winning formula and we looked set for automatic promotion, but it was Martin himself that upset the balance and when things started to go wrong he has too many options and doesn't know what to do for the best.

Hopefully we can get a result at Leicester tonight, not for the points, but for our own pride and confidence, football players at any level want to have a gameplan, they want to know that those that play well get picked and those that don't are not in the team, Russell Martin has brought uncertainty to the squad, but it is the players who will achieve a result this evening, but I fear that as we get on the cusp of it, once again some poor substitutions will snatch defeat from victory once again.

That has been the case on far too many occasions this season, how many times have we given away a lead, sometimes we have dragged it back, but too often this is not the case, perhaps we will get it right tonight and give ourselves something to build on for the play offs.

Photo: Action Images

JoeEgg added 12:31 - Apr 23 Well it looks like the play-offs and I guess the best anyone can say is - what will be will be! Four potential clubs going for the Premier League and just ONE is going to miss out! My main regret if we dont get promotion, would be to see us lose a number of players who could really have formed the nucleus of a really useful squad going forward. If we are stuck with Russell Martin it has to be recognised that his brand of football requires quality players suited to his possession style, and those are most likely to be the ones that we will lose come end of season. Lets hope we perform well against Leicester and Leeds: but I doubt these games will tell us anything we dont already know!!

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SanMarco added 14:41 - Apr 23 Of course RM may well go at the end of the season. Of the four options: Prem with RM, Prem without RM and the same two permutations for the Championship I think the Prem WITH RM is the scariest. Of course, like all of us, I want to go up but there is something to be said for being grumpy about only having 80+ points and of course no VAR!! Away at Man C and the likes under RM's 'philosophy' sounds like a very long 90 mins in a very long season. I share JoeEgg's feelings about the loss of players and this is why it is so difficult to see the RM project as long-term, in this league anyway. I expect the players best suited to tippy-tappy will all go and it will be back to square one. Spend the first part of the season 'learning' and dropping vital points, hit a sweet spot for a while and the ultimately fade away when RM's 'I know best' approach starts messing with a winning team. I don't fancy tonight. Leicester were pretty lucky vs WBA but they will be confident tonight. It mmight be a good game if we take our chances....

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Bowlercow added 14:54 - Apr 23 If we fail to go up and Sports Republic decide to part ways with RM I may well part ways with my season ticket The massive change that has come about may need more than one season to bring what we want I'm prepared to be patient and fed up having to start again after what 9 managers in 10 years
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DellBoyWally added 15:19 - Apr 23 And for those that have not seen the news: 4th at 5th first leg of playoff with now be on Sunday 12 May @ 14.15. Originally it clashed with MNF on Sky. As it stands that is us at WBA
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kingolaf added 17:23 - Apr 23 Pointless risking key players before the play-offs. We’re finishing 4th no matter what. If Russ is kept for next season, my season ticket is going in the bin. I only hope the idiots appoint a decent manager like Steve Cooper and not another Rasmus hipster one.
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Centurion added 19:09 - Apr 23 Going up automatically would have been on hell of achievement. Getting to the play offs not far behind. If we fail to get promoted, we have still had a good season.
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