Southampton At Cambridge United The Preview Tuesday, 23rd Aug 2022 07:45 Saints travel to Canbridge United as the two teams meet for the first time in their history, a year ago they won 8-0 at Newport County in the same competition, but the U's will be a different prospect being a division higher than the Welsh side. Ralph Hasenhuttl has spoken in the pre match build up of wanting to see his team have good runs in the cup competitions, however this is not likely to stop him putting out a much changed side for the trip to the Abbey Stadium. However that was the case a year ago and it will give the manager a chance to give some of his squad members who have not played much the chance of a game. In goal Gavin Bazunu is likely to be rested with either Alex McCarthy or Willy Cabbalero getting a game. On the pitch it will be interesting to see if Ralph keeps the formation used at Leicester or reverts to a 5 at the back line up. Either way I would expect to see the likes of Yan Valery utilised with Lyanco & Jack Stephens perhaps starting and perhaps even a debut for Dynel Simeu. In midfield James Ward Prowse usually plays and he will be joined by Oriol Romeu and Ibrahima Diallo and possibly Theo Walcott and Nathan Redmond. Up front is the dilemma, Ralph only has 3 strikers at present, Adam Armstrong will perhaps be favourite for a position in the starting line up and I would suspect he will be joined by Sekou Mara. Given the need to rest players and the shortage of left backs at present it is hard to call the line up, indeed I would not be surprised to see Jake Vokins given a rare chance to shine. Last season Newport played a weakened side themselves, I would be surprised if Cambridge did the same and I would expect them to be looking to create an upset. But hopefully Ralph is looking to counter balance some wholesale changes with the need to ensure a win, so I would think that we would have a bench that will have a lot of talent on there that will start the game against Manchester United on Saturday. All Saints fans ask is a competitive side that puts in a good performance and sees us through to the next round, Ralph is right the cup competitions give us hope as fans, certainly a chance of glory that is becoming increasingly unlikely in a Premier League where the rich are becoming richer. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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