Southampton V West Ham United The Preview
Thursday, 26th Dec 2024 09:28
He was sat in the stands at Fulham, but now he looks to lead the team from the front for the first time, Ivan Juric has promised the Saints supporters Death Metal Football, so can he kick start what he has described as "Something Exceptional"
At Fulham Ivan Duric has admitted that he could have little influence on the game due to his work permit not having been rubber stamped, aside from some talks with the team ahead of the game , he was unable to sit in the dug out and had to watch what turned out to be one of the better performances in the car crash start to the season that Russell Martin oversaw.
But you could tell he had put in some input to the style that interim manager Simon Rusk employed, at the back the players cleared the ball when needed and had cut out the suicidal possession based passing when they got the ball and a goalkeeper who knew when to clear his lines or not roll it out short.
But this will be the first one that Juric will pick himself, now he will have seen many of the squad perform and had the time to assess where they will fit in to his way of playing, he has told the media, his game is about keeping it tight defensively and pressing hard when not in possession, far different to the style imposed by Russell Martin.
The media have picked up on his early utterances to them and have suggested that it will be "Death Metal Football" for Saints from now on and that is music for Saints fans who had grown tired of the error strewn passing game employed by Martin.
So what side will Juric put out ? perhaps the clue will be in the line up at Fulham and that will be bad news for Jack Stephens who returns after his second suspension of the season.
I do feel sorry for Jack who after being installed as Russell Martin's pet favourite, now finds himself being tarred with the same brush as the stubborn manager who failed to adapt, as many know I have never been a fan, but my opinion of Jack remains unchanged, he is a good squad player.
That will probably mean that he could find himself struggling for even a spot on the bench, at Fulham Nathan Wood had another good game in what was a back 3 with Jan Bednarek and Taylor Harwood-Bellis with wing backs, at Craven Cottage there was not a central defender on the bench, except for James Bree who could fill in, but the new manager may bring back Charlie Taylor, ostracised under Martin or even Ronnie Edwards who appeared on the bench in other games.
The squad could also include Armel Bella-Kotchap who is being linked with both Bayern Munich & Dortmund in January but who was also being ignored by Martin.
So Saints fans head to St Mary's knowing that it will be a far different performance than the last Premier League outing that they watched, I believe that this squad was good enough to stay up at the start of the season, if Martin hadn't insisted on the level of possession football that was employed and the number of errors that happened because of that, we would have at least 8 or 9 extra points this season and at least with a fighting chance of staying up.
Now we are almost dead and buried and as Juric says, it would take something exceptional to get us out of the bottom 3.
West Ham themselves are not performing to the level their fans demand and Julen Lopetegui finds himself under fire, only 6 months after replacing David Moyes who delivered op 10 finishes and a Europa Conference League trophy, even his 9th place finish last season was not good enough for the Hammers faithful, so the current 14th and hovering just above the relegation zone isn't what was expected.
In truth today could be a pivotal moment in their season, a win could see them dream of the top 10 again, whereas defeat could mean a long winter.
In their 8 games on the road in the premier League this season, West Ham have won2, drawn 3 and lost 3, with only 9 goals scored and 13 conceded, they are a hard team to beat.
But hopefully this will be the start of a new era for Saints and for the first time in nearly 3 years, perhaps Saints supporters will be able to be united in backing their manager and their team.
The last time the St Mary's faithful were truly happy with their team and manager and the way it was playing was in February 2022 when Ralph Hasenhuttl's team sat in 9th place after 26 games, after a 2-0 win over Norwich, ironically 3 points above Brighton, how both teams fortunes have gone in different directions since then.
Russell Martin never enjoyed the total respect of the fans and many sneered at his "Tippy Tappy" football.
Now with Juric in charge, perhaps he can get the fans behind both him and the team, it is a long shot to stay up, but if we have any chance of doing it, we need momentum from both the players and the fans, can Juric be the catalyst for that.
Even if it is ultimately a futile battle, we can build for next season, this football club needs to be surrounded again by optimism and not constant pessimism and doom & gloom.
We need to get back to the support that the team was given in the play offs last year, recapture that spirit.
What has gone on over the past 3 years cannot be changed, but what happens over the next 3 months or for that matter 3 years is as of yet unwritten.
So Southampton fans can go to this game today with hope and that is something we have not been used to this season.
Perhaps in the future this game will be remembered for all the right reasons !
All Photos Via Reuters
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