With a few teams leapfrogging them on Saturday, Saints need to pick up at least a point against Chelsea preferably all 3, but it will not be easy.

Chelsea have had a bit of a topsy turvy start to the season by their standards, capable of winning and winning well on their day as they did at Wolves and equally able to ship goals as they did in getting beat at Manchester United and a home draw with Sheffield United.

Saints have also had a bit of an up and down start to the season and it hasn't been helped by our failure to yet again address our shortcomings in the centre of defence in a transfer window.

This yet again cost us points at Tottenham last weekend and the truth is it will continue to do so, some weeks we will get away with defensive lapses as we did at Sheffield United and others we on't and that has cost us the last two games and instead of being safely in midtable we are looking over our shoulder.

So this game suddenly becomes one that we need to perform in and perform well.

The good news is that indications from Ralph Hasenhuttl is that he will start to put players in their right positions again, I don't know why he has changed things so drastically around of late, but he needs to get back to basics and cut out the errors at the back.

If he plays a back four then it needs to be Valery, Bednarek, Danso, Bertrand

If it is a back three it should be Bednarek, Danso, Yoshida with Valery and Bertrand as wing backs.

I'm sorry that this all sounds familiar in my previews, butthe same problems keep recurring, if we do the same things and play the same players then we will get the same results and issues week in week out.

Valery has the pace needed and hopefully his lay off will have helped him, Kevin Danso is an unknown quality but he is big and has strength and pace, so far he has been played out of position as a wing back, that is not his position, he has never played there before, if we are not going to even try him in his normal roles then what was the point of bringing him in.

So for Ralph today it is back to basics, bring in players who could be part of the solution, not whom have been part of the problem.

We can get something out of this game, all the changes have lost the momentum that we had after the win at Sheffield, but to put it in perspective that is only three games ago, so it is not a crisis only a bit of a drama.

It is time for everyone to pull together from Ralph Hasenhuttl down to the fans to all kick in the same direction and play to the abilities this squad has.

Photo: Action Images

helpineedsomebody added 10:42 - Oct 6 i completely agree why danso he has PACE
2

stmark added 12:22 - Oct 6 Got to be valery, Danso, Bednarek,Bertrand surely. Would be nice to see McCarthy back between the sticks. But fully fit. Coming to claim crosses and really looking like the keeper that kept us up. Also today we’d benefit from playing ings and Adams, Boufal and Redmond on the wings with Pierre and romeo in the middle. This team would give Chelsea a good game, show Ralph what the players he has are like playing in their proper positions, in the premier league. Fair play to Ralph for getting them to be able to play in 2 different formations but I believe we should start with a 4,2,2,2 or similar 4 at the back system and change to a 3 at the back system if we need to. Setting us up defensively only encourages teams to attack us from the start of games. When we press the opponents high and fight for every ball we create a lot of chances. Let’s hope che’s got his scoring boots on! COYR!

1

aceofthebase added 13:06 - Oct 6 Incredible! Boufal has had very good recent games, unlike some, and his reward is a seat on the bench. RH if you get today's team selection wrong you are on borrowed time.
2

allsaint54 added 13:39 - Oct 6 JWP, Romeo & Hojberg in midfield again, no pace or attacking flair. Chelsie will have a field day. Hope I'm wrong but can't see it.
2

janecook added 16:17 - Oct 6 The manager has lost the plot. Why drop Boufal who has been our best player lately and Prowse still keeps his place.
3

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls