Southampton V Norwich City The Preview Friday, 11th Aug 2023 10:36 After their win on the opening day against Sheffield Wednesday, Saints host Norwich City at a packed St Mary's, but even with 24 hours to go there is doubt as to who will still be at the club and who won't be. Russell Martin will be getting up this Friday morning unsure who will be in his squad and who won't be, will James Ward Prowse be in London have a medical in front of a move to West Ham or has that deal been blown out of the water with Hammers News reporting that could be the case. Likwise Romeo Lavia whose almost certain move to Anfield suddenly doesn't look so solid with Liverpool in for Moises Caceido, but Chelsea also said to have trumped Chelsea's offer for Lavia himself. Then there is the speculation around Will Smallbone who is being pursued by Sheffield United.
The likelihood of JWP & Lavia playing is pretty slim, although with Smallbone there seems no reason why he shouldn't play aside from the modern age excuse of his head not being in the right place, we all wish we could use that excuse when we don't fancy going into work sometimes. So Martin will have to consider carefully what his options are, although most Saints fans would be happy to see James Ward Prowse make his final appearance at St Mary's with the majority wishing him well.
One thing though is for certain, the line up will have no resemblance to the one that lost at Gillingham on Tuesday night, that was about Russell martin finding out a few things about his squad and he had many questions answered, from this perspective he will have found some satisfaction, although not much pleasure, truth is that Saints were never going to win the competition, it would have just been a hindrance to the one thing that matters and how Russell Martin will be judged and that is promotion back to the Premier League. So we will have Gavin Bazunu back in goal, he has had some criticism last season, but judge him and indeed others on what they do this season in the Championship and not last term in the Premier League, he is comfortable on the ball and that is going to be a vial part of what Martin needs from his goalkeeper and hopefully as the season progresses, Bazunu will start to show his undoubted quality. The back four picks itself and it won't contain any of those in it at Gillingham, it will be Kyle Walker Peters, Jack Stephens, Jan Bednarek & Ryan Manning.
Midfield will see a change I do not think JWP will be there, but I do think that Shea Charles will step into the breach alongside Will Smallbone, out wide I think Nathan Tella and Sam Edozie will be wearing the shirts. Up front will be Adam Armstrong with Charly Alcatraz either alongside or sat a little deeper. I do also think that Stuart Armstrong is one other change that Martin may make, either in the centre of midfield or possibly wide, but pre match comments suggest he is not ready for 90 mins just yet. Che Adams could also be deployed. On the bench could see a shock, Alex McCarthy could find himself out in the cold after the signing of Joe Lumley, the former Middlesbrough keeper is perhaps better suited to the manager's style, although it may be a week or two too early for this and I think McCarthy could well leave on loan by the end of the month.
The bench should be fairly strong from an outfield perspective, Joe Aribo, Sam Amo-Abeyaw, Che Adams, Stuart Armstrong, Sekou Mara are 5 players who look nailed on, probably Lyanco as the back up central defender and Romain Perraud to cover the full backs, then that leave Moussa Djenepo, James Bree, & a raft of youngsters to contest for the other two positions. This is the acid test for Russell Martin, the win over Sheffield Wednesday was clinical, but not 100% in terms of finishing in front of goal and the slack marking for the home sides equaliser, but it showed enough promise to give Saints supporters optimism for the season. The truth is that when Lavia & JWP have gone we will sign replacements, not just for them but in other key positions, as a squad tomorrow we will be without those now likely to go, but we will not have the replacements in yet, this is the one worrying thing, tomorrow against Norwich is probably going to be the weakest we will be all season.
So it is going to be more about the result than the performance, if we can get all 3 points from this one, then it bodes well for the season, if we can win now with a depleted squad and the possession game not yet fine tuned then what can we do when we get going properly. A football season is a marathon not a sprint, whilst it is always good to get off to a good start and lets be honest only our 5th opening day win in 35 years is not a bad result, we have to look at in in the long run, a defeat in August is not the benchmark it's merely a setback. Norwich themselves scraped a win last week over a Hull side who last season finished 15th, only two positions behind Norwich themselves, the Canaries scoring in injury time in both half's for their 2-1 win, they have also lost their key player, former Saints target Max Arrons who has gone to Bournemouth. So we start the game favourites, but we need to have patience, the possession game is about just that, possession ! Keeping the ball and building up patiently and waiting for the right moment to suddenly go into overdrive, rather than hit & hope at the first glimpse of an opening.
An early goal would settle the crowd, it is going to be a full house at St Mary's and it is good to see the fans are getting behind the team, but the jury is still out for many Southampton supporters, they come wanting to be convinced, we need to do that by winning and winning well. Personally I am looking forward to this game and i can't say that I have looked forward to going to St Mary's for a long time. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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