Televised games against Leicester City on a Friday evening generally do not go well for Southampton, hopefully this will change this evening when the Foxes arrive at St Mary's in what is an early season promotion clash.

The game at Sunderland was a debacle, there is no way that it can be dressed up as anything else but, however it was not a team outclassed despite the scoreline, it was a team that made individual and basic errors to gift Sunderland all of the goals.

That being the case it is hopefully something that Russell Martin can address and get right this time out .

In fairness the manager did say it would take time for us to get things finely tuned and although we had a virtual full squad to pick from against the Mackems, it wasn't a squad that had played together and it was still a case of the manager taking a look at certain players and deciding what is his best line up.

In goal I still think Gavin Bazunu is the man, some have been quick to pick out goals that they think he should have done better on, but are slow to point out that he has also made some decent stops, a goalkeeper young or old needs a steady defence in front of him and Bazunu has never had that at Southampton yet.

So what does Martin do in defence, does he stick with 4 at the back or does he make a change and employ a back three with wing backs, personally I think this might suit us better, I would use Mason Holgate, Shea Charles and Taylor Harwood- Bellis as a back three.

KWP & Ryan Manning as wing backs flanking a central duo of Flynn Downes & Will Smallbone, that would leave a front three of Adam Armstrong, Charly Alcatraz & Che Adams.

For me that is a side that makes use of not only the system that we want to play, but the players we have to play it, it has strength and pace at the back, it lets the wing back attack down the wing and hopefully it means that we we won't leave big gaps at the rear when defending.

But I think we will stick to 4-3 -3, if that is the case then it is a back four of KWP, Holgate, Taylor- Bellis & Manning, a midfield of S Armstrong, Downes, Charles with a front three of Alcatraz, A Armstrong & Adams.

I could make a change or two in either of these line ups which does show the strength in depth we have, the likes of Sam Edozie, Jan Bednarek, Sekou Mara, Ryan Fraser, Sam Amo-Ameyaw, Kamaldeen Sulemana & Joe Aribo have not got into either line up and we still have new signing Ross Stewart to come in.

This should give us confidence that we can be a major player in the promotion race this season, the issue is not the quality and indeed the quantity of the squad, but tweaking the issues than bubbled under in the opening games and very much came to the surface at Sunderland.

If we sort these out then we will be a force to be reckoned with.

The Championship has yet to see a true leader emerge, it is a very open League and tonight's two teams are perhaps the strongest in the division in terms of squads, but neither of us have had it our own way as was proved at Sunderland for Saints and at home against Hull for the Foxes.

This is the first of two big games for Saints at St Mary's in the space of a few days, we beat Leicester and then Ipswich and we will very much be installed as Promotion favourites, losing both will be a big setback, but not a disaster as the division is so open.

What we want to see in our team tonight though is organisation, that was the defining factor at Sunderland as to why we lost, too many times in that game saw us lose shape and pay the price for it, Sunderland adopted a hoof it forward tactic and we didn't deal with it, that is not due to a lack of quality, but a lack of leadership and that is the problem, picking a team is easy, picking a captain from that team is not so obvious.

We need someone at the back or centre of midfield who can anchor the team, but what we have is either youngster or loan players, can you have a captain who is a loan player ? although it is not preferable, I think that is perhaps our best option, Flynn Downes or Mason Holgate being two contenders.

So here we go again, this is going to be a roller coaster season, that has already become quite clear, we are going to see a lot of goals, at both ends and we have to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Photo: Action Images

onetowatch added 10:46 - Sep 15 Sorry Nick, losing 3 consecutive games would be a disaster - or at the very least spell out clearly that we are not promotion hopefuls this season. As for Holgate making both your teams.....are you sure you saw the Sunderland game? Yes, we have injuries in that position, but we also have better options...
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underweststand added 13:52 - Sep 15 Aside from the injuries and associated problems, this will be a game to see how they react to the Sunderland result. Was it a one-off " bad day " , or an omen of what is it come. Of course everyone says that we want to "bounce back ", but in all honesty I can't see all 3 of the relegated clubs getting an immediate return -can you? especially as a promoted Ipswich have started well and are our next fixture. It will take a bit longer before we have Stephens back (and maybe even Bednarek, too). Ross Stewart is still not fit enough top play , and until he has a couple of 90 minute games under his belt we are unlikely to see why it is that RM wanted him so much. Tonight is game no. 6 ....of 46 , and there is plenty of time to get things up and running with a fully fit, in form squad who can get a run of good results and stay up near the top 6.

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Bowlercow added 14:48 - Sep 15 When I try to pick a starting eleven I am surprised at how difficult it is because of our strength in depth Having said that it doesn't include the CB's Bellis and Charles certainly look the most exciting pairing In MF how can not play Smallbone Alcaraz Stu A Sulemana Charles if not at CB but of course someone has to miss out The same with a front line AA Che Ryan Fraser Edozie Mara and Sulemana again If they concentrate on their individual duties we could be in for a Good Friday in September

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SanMarco added 15:54 - Sep 15 Goals against will be one of the more important stats tonight. RM's known weakness is in that particular field and if we ship in a few more tonight the "I told you so" discontent will be quickly mounting. A draw would be an okay result and perhaps, in a perverse way, 0-0 would be better than 5-5....
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Boris1977 added 01:25 - Sep 16 Was this a 'good' 4-1 or the work in progress? At least we didn't concede 5.
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