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Southampton At Chelsea The Preview
Friday, 17th Feb 2023 10:07

There is possibly not a person in the country, let alone Southampton who will give Saints any chance in this match, but can caretake manager Ruben Selles turn a disorganised poorly led rabble into a football team that can once again get points in the Premier League.

Saints supporters go to Stamford Bridge more in hope than expectation, but what little hope they had is gleaned from the fact that Nathan Jones, perhaps the worst manager in the club's history has now gone.

His main crime whilst at St Mary's is that he appears to have turned what was before his arrival a decent enough squad with a few injury problems into a squabbling disorganised rabble.

So Ruben Selles job is to get what is now a large squad into some form of order, Jones could not do that, the new arrivals seemed to complicate things for him, it made him uncertain of just what line up and indeed formation he should employ and as in the Wolves game, multiple substitutions in a short period merely served to make us lose shape.

The first big question is just who will be in the 20 man matchday squad that will form the starting XI and the substitutes bench.

Will those recently ostracised by Jones such as Caleta-Car, Bella-Kotchap, Orsic & Djenepo find a place.

It will be stabbing in the dark to try and guess but personally I would be happy to see them restored in place of Bednarek, Bree & Walcott, I don't want to be too critical of them, but none deserved a place in the squad ahead of any of the aforementioned quartet.

What we want from Selles is to see him restore organisation and stability to the side, we had almost found it at one stage before the previous manager for some reason tore apart that what he had seemingly found.

The second question is what formation will he play, will he play three central defenders of go to a back four.

My guess is that he will go to a back four, get back to basics and to be blunt we haven't got anyone who is a natural wing back at present, Bree & Perraud are full backs and not wing backs, there is a difference, mainly to do with the ability and engine to keep going up and down to both attack and defend.

So if we go for a back four who should be in that and indeed the rest of the team.

My line up would be as follows, I am assuming here that Kyle Walker Peters is not fit, if he is he slots in at right back.

Bazunu

Maitland - Niles, Salisu, Caleta-Car, Perraud

Sulemana Ward Prowse, Lavia, Alcaraz A Armstrong

Adams,

Of course this line up is defensive, we have to get behind the ball early doors and get a grip on the game and then look to get our two wide men forward to support Adams.

The midfield 5 have fluidity, the ability to push a man forward to support Adams from either out wide or from the centre, but still keep our shape to make sure that we can't be caught on the counter.

Some will query why Adams and not Onauchu up front, quite simply work rate and that will be needed to set the tone of the game, likewise why I have Adam Armstrong in.

Maitland-Niles is the nearest we have to a Premier League experienced right back at the moment, he had a good game against Wolves, he might not have shown it too often yet, but he is versatile and the best person for the position if Kyle Walker Peters is out.

Mislav orsic is back in because he is a quality player who just didn't seem to gel with Jones, hopefully going forward we will see his quality.

The bench would be:

Cabballero, Onauchu, Bella-Kotchap, Lyanco, Diallo, Orsic, S Armstrong, Mara, Djenepo, Edozie.

This bench for me gives the option to make changes in all positions, although as you will see there is no place for Bednarek, Elyounoussi, Bree, Aribo & Walcott, of these Elyounoussi & Aribo have played some good parts this season at times, but haven't been consistent, they are unlucky not to be on the bench and it is only the sheer numbers in the squad now that see them omitted.

It is is highly unlikely that we will win this game, perhaps a draw is the best we can hope for, but we should still go there with hope, Chelsea themselves are in awful form.

In their 5 Premier League games before the World Cup break they lost the 3 games before the break and drew the 2 games before that.

They beat Bournemouth in the first game after the break, but in the 7 games since that they have drawn 4, won just one and lost 2 a record not that much better than Nathan Jones, in the same period.

So with Graham Potter now under fire and Chelsea in real danger of not even making the Europa Conference League places, let alone the Champions League, this could be a key game in their season, defeat would be a catastrophe, they quite simply have to win.

It is ironic, it could be said that Saints are playing for who will be their next manager, if they beat Chelsea, Potter might well be sacked, could he be in charge of Saints for the next home game ?

We have beaten Chelsea once this season, so this is not as tough a game as it might seem at first sight, we just have to show the qualities we did in that game, that means not collapsing in their early bluster, and showing them we arent going to roll over, that will quieten the crowd and maybe even turn it against their team and manager.

That is pure speculation, we just have to get on with the job of kick starting our season, that means picking the best players, putting them in the right positions and not scattergun substitutions when things go wrong.

I hope that even if this game doesn't end with a point or 3, that it shows we have our discipline and shape back and that will bode well for the season as I think we have a decent squad now, it has spirit, it just needs to be lead by someone who is calm collected and does not panic at every turn.

Photo: Action Images



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davidargyll added 10:28 - Feb 17
I think what you are trying to say is that, in any other walk of life, Jones’ actions would have been considered disorganised at best, downright charlatan at worst and his entire period of managership bordering on the fraudulent.
Seles I would think and hope cannot possibly do any worse…
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davidargyll added 10:31 - Feb 17
Sorry posted previously on this topic accidentally.
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StAnt added 11:12 - Feb 17
Even if we beat Chelsea and Potter is sacked to think he is going to rush straight into the vacancy at St Marys is a stretch. He'll have a huge pay-off from Chelsea so will be in no hurry to decide what he wants to do next. Even when he's taken that time I doubt very much we'll be on his radar. Cloud cuckoo land.
1

SaintNick added 11:47 - Feb 17
I was being a little speculative with Potter, but I.m not sure it is cloud cuckoo land that he would join Saints, truth is he isnt going to pick up a job at a big club if he is sacked now, if you assume that the likes of Fulham, Palace, Villa, Brentford etc have managers in place an that the 3 promoted clubs are keeping theirs, then he would probably be limited to 3-4 clubs who might be looking for a new man in the summer
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SaintPaulVW added 12:29 - Feb 17
For me getting Potter as manager and giving him time to build a team would be the best outcome to our current situation.

However, if a Selles team plays well and beats Chelsea, do we have a bigger conundrum.
-1

forest_saint added 12:35 - Feb 17
Not Adams or Armstrong please. They are partly the reason for this mess with no end product
4

saintlee added 12:50 - Feb 17
Tall Paul for Adams. We struggle at set piece so the extre height would be an advantage. Sulamane on the right hand side against Cucerella. Not sure he'd get much change out of Reese James.
2

obelisk added 13:07 - Feb 17
Adams is doubtful for tomorrow. I for one will miss the "Che misses sitter" report.
2

felly1 added 15:24 - Feb 17
Going up tomorrow for my 2nd away game of the season. Hoping for a miracle and an away win would be fantastic.
Maybe it's a free hit with Selles and with the pressure released we put on a performance... Not likely with Saints but we can hope.
My Chelsea mate reckons they were unlucky against Dortmund and had should have won the game.
He feels Potter is close to getting it going up there and they're looking at this game as the one to fire them up to a big win and a confidence boost.
Agree with Nick we need to keep it tight and try and frustrate them. Adams for tall Paul for me too.
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aceofthebase added 10:30 - Feb 18
You can't be serious with that suggested lineup. Do you have Welsh blood Nick
1

felly1 added 11:00 - Feb 18
My lineup would be. 4-2-3-1
1. Bazunu/ Cabellero Gk
2. Lyanco Rb
3. Perraud Lb
4. Caleta Sar Cb
5. Salisu Cb
6. Maitland Niles Cdm
7. Lavia Cdm
8. Sulemana Lm
9. Alceraz Cam
10. JWP. Rm
11. Onuachu/ Adams
Subs.
Goalie
ABK
Diallo
S Armstrong
A Armstrong
Adams/Onuachu
Djenepo
Elyonoussi
1

ItchenNorth added 11:47 - Feb 18
Well I give Saints a chance, so there's one person !

COYR
0

ItchenNorth added 18:22 - Feb 18
0-1 Saints!!!!!!

Stick with me everybody; you'll be fine!

COYR
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