Southampton V Rotherham United The Preview Friday, 6th Oct 2023 13:08 Two straight wins have seen Saints leap up the table not in terms of position but in that we are now level on points with two of those in the Promotion play offs, there has been a definite change in game plan in the Saints side, can they make it three in a row. Over the past month Russell Martin has been fine tuning his team and the way that he wants it to play. When we lost at Sunderland and then at home to Leicester City and shipped 9 goals along the way, you felt up to that point that he would persevere with a possession football game whatever and that his players felt obliged to stick rigidly to that system, even when their better judgement thought it was the wrong course of action to keep passing.
But the last four games have seen the style slowly change, you sense that Martin has learned a hard lesson and that things have to evolve rather than be enforced. Yes we still play the possession game to a degree, but their seems to be a more fluid style, Martin has found the players that fit his system and he has adapted that system accordingly. The signs were there in the Ipswich game and certainly in the first half at Middlesbrough, but they have truly come to the surface in the victories over Leeds & Stoke. Those games showed a less marauding pressing style and a more organised system that does not just focus on passing and passing again, but looking to get the ball into the attacking third and to the feet of the likes of Sulemana, Adam Armstrong and Charly Alcatraz.
Those games also showed that we could hold our shape and defend when needed and at Stoke that we could get down in the dirt and win ugly. Now Rotherham arrive for their first visit to St Mary's and indeed their first visit to Southampton since 1966, meaning that there will be few Saints supporters who have actually seen us play against the Millers. Most Saints fans were glad to see Russell Martin keep an unchanged side for the trip to Stoke and are clamouring for a third game unchanged, but the manager has hinted that he will make changes.
That hasn't gone down well with some, but the reality is that this will be our third game in 7 days, the Stoke game was tough both mentally and physically and there will be some tiredness out there and we do have to use the squad we have. It should be noted here that as we stayed strong in the last 20 minutes plus injury time at the bet365 stadium that Martin made 5 changes, the player ratings on this site saw all the substitutes plus Ryan Manning given the lowest marks. But the bigger picture was that in the last quarter of the game only five of the starting outfield line up were on the pitch for the full game, that was the back four, plus Flynn Downes, the point is that we made changes on Tuesday night and still won the game, so we can make changes this weekend and still do well.
When you are on a promotion chase it is relentless, that means that it is about grinding out results week in week out, whatever the opposition and it is not the way we win that counts it is the end result. Rotherham of course arrive as favourites for relegation and with only 5 points on the board from their 10 games, they only have one win to their name. They are joint highest for conceding goals and no that is not with us, we have only let in 20. In attack they have scored only 9 goals, only Sheffield Wednesday have notched less, on paper this looks a home banker, but this is Southampton we are talking about, a week ago I wrote a preview on the back of 4 straight defeats, there looked only one result for our game against Leeds, but what a difference a week makes. I would hope that Russell Martin would keep his core defence, Jan Bednarek & Taylor Harwood- Bellis have looked a good partnership and Kyle Walker Peters has been the best player over the past two games overall.
Ryan Manning for the present will not be a popular choice at Left back, but this could be a game he could shine in, a chance to show why last season he was one of the best attacking left backs in the Championship. The midfield has worked hard and we are blessed with four quality players in Flynn Downes, Will Smallbone, Stuart Armstrong and Shea Charles, but we can only play three of them, I think Charles might just come in either for Smallbone or Stuart Armstrong, if only to give a rest to some.
The attacking trio at Stoke have put in a lot of work over the past two games, I would not be surprised to see one or even two of them given a rest, Che Adams is likely to come in and I would not be surprised to see either Sam Edozie or Ryan Fraser given a start. This is a game that we have to win if we want to challenge at the top and to be frank there is no reason why we shouldn't, we have a squad big on quality and big on size, we more than any other side can cope with a log hard season. The fact that even with those four straight losses we are still level on points with the last two play off spots, and within 4 points of 3rd place, tells you that we have what it takes to challenge for promotion, now it is about eating away at the points deficit at the top. If we had drawn with Ipswich and beaten Boro as we should then we would already be in 4th and only 2 points behind Ipswich who would still be second, that is how tight this league is.
I still think that we can go up in an automatic place, but it is games like Rotherham at home we cannot afford to slip up in, we have to win them and win them well to get that goal difference tally down. I hope that Russell Martin doesn't mess things around too much, he has made mistakes in selections and he has to get the fans all back behind him again, some think he has been too clever for his own good, well don't let anyone have their point proved right by major changes in the starting line up, get the game won and then everyone has a two week break. First game of the weekend is on Friday night when Birmingham host West Brom, a win for the Baggies would leave us in 10th for the night at least, but a draw or win for Birmingham would see them jump above us. Best for us is perhaps a draw or failing that a Birmingham win. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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