Southampton At Aston Villa The Preview
Friday, 6th Dec 2024 07:45
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
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