I dont think anyone needs reminding of the enormity of this game in terms of morale for the season.

Last season much was made of Saints haveing a winning mentality by supporters, it was oft quoted on message boards as one of the secrets of our success.

Now we are in the exact polar opposite of where we were a year ago, four straigh victories is now four straight defeats and we have to start winning games to ensure that we dont become entrenched in a losing mentality.

The more optimistic will of course say that there are still 34 games and that there is plenty of time to go, all this of course true, but it cant be denied that this run has to be ended soon especially as the excuses of playing top four teams have now run out.

Nigel Adkins has one big advantage though for the visit of Villa, he has new players at the club and can make changes to the starting line up from that, that was destroyed in the opening 40 minutes up at the Emirates and that is a very big advantage to him in trying to restore a little bit of confidence after last weeks debacle.

So with new players at hand Nigel has to get them back to basics, ideally that would be to return to a more traditional 4-4-2 line up, one that the players know how to play and perhaps more importantly that we have the personel available to play.

Whilst undoubtably 4-5-1 is the most popular in the Premier at the moment, the est teams are the ones that are flexible enough to change it when time and circumstance merit and perhaps this is one of those days, when you are on a losing streak get back to basics, firstly get the players doing things they are used to, get them passing the ball to each other short and then the wins will return, we proved that on more than one occasion last season after a dodgy spell.

But I fear that for one reason or another 4-5-1 will have to be played and if so then its important to get it right.

In goal I think Kelvin is still the man for tommorrow, although a few more displays like the one at Arsenal could see us needing to change, in the back four Yoshida needs to come in for Hooiveld, being captain of the Japanese Olympic team he is possibly a man with leadership qualities and that is something we are lacking in the back four.

Many are calling for Luke Shaw to be called into the side, many I would add who have never seen him play and are merely basing their opinion of him on the alledged bids from Arsenal & Chelsea, this is no basis to bring in a youngster and perhaps more importantly a defence in total chaos isnt the situation to do it either, yes Fox was ripped apart at Arsenal, but then again so was everyone and Fox has a reasonable right to ask where was his cover from midfield, haw will be one for the future, but ask yourself the question if he had played at the Emirates would it have changed the result, would we have won 1-0 instead of the 6-1 we suffered, I dont think I need to give that answer and that should perhaps put things in perspective.

In midfield Adam Lallana needs to come back in the centre with Nigel deciding which two from Scheneiderlin Davis and JWP play behind him, at Arsenal Adam played wide for one reason, Adkins four best midfielders dont go into three midfield places so room was made elsewhere, that happened last season on a couple of occasions with dire results, I would therefore like to see Lallana back in the middle and Ramirez come in on the left to add some pace, on the right its more difficult because quite frankly we havent got anyone who can do the job there consistently week in week out, for the visit of Villa we probably need to stick with Puncheon though.

Up front we are top heavy, Lambert will start but I fear his days of starting if we continue with only one up top are numbered, as Grant Holt found out at Norwich, the premier is a little more than just scoring goals, more than anything its about pace and work rate, Im sure SRL has the workrate but I fear he doesnt have the pace, hence the purchase of Manyuka, personally I would prefer to see Rodriguez up top.

So Nigel can rally his troops by bringing in two key players in Ramirez and Yoshida in key areas, but its still too little too late, however we cant change that now, we need to kick start our season with a win against Villa who are having their own problems and perhaps take ourselves out of the bottom three in the process.

Once again the fans can play their part, we need a full house with everyone behind the team even if things dont go right initially.     

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 11:33 - Sep 21 Davis Clyne Fonte Yosh Fox Punch Davis Ramirez Lallana Lambo Lee Gaza Richards Shaw Spider Guly Jrod Mayuka
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saint22 added 12:19 - Sep 21 i cant see how Spider can be dropped, he has looked one of the few not out of his depth at this level
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ExiledSupporter added 12:56 - Sep 21 In the past (long before Ramirez appeared on the horizon and before NA implemented it) I have argued for AL to play in the centre and in the first few matches this season I think he has justified that 'relocation'. But GR's arrival changes all that since I think he looks better equipped than AL to play in the 'hole' and seems to be a genuinely two footed player. So reluctantly I have to disagree with you Nick and play AL on the left again. I think I read somewhere NA being quoted as saying GR was...a genuine No.10 (or something like that) This suggests to me that he will play him in the centre of midfield and in a 4-5-1 formation. I suppose you might argue that AL has more experience at playing in front of the full back on the left than GR possesses...and would argue that the latter is more valuable a little higher up the field in any case. Of course the on-going issue is the cohesion of the defence and the cover for the full backs, so I think the cover supplied by the midfield is key and would play MS and MD in front of the defence (and hope Cork gets back to fitness soon to challenge for one of those roles) I tend to agree with you about playing Puncheon on the right, but feel that either Manyuka or Lee should be groomed for this role (using the players we have got, rather than those we should arguably have bought) even though you have legitimately cast doubts on their ability to fill this position. Otherwise I can't see either of them doing anything more than sitting on the bench which seems a waste of talent...but that takes us back to the madness of our summer transfer policy. Substitutes become potentially vital (and difficult to select) so one of either Manyuka or Lee (or Puncheon if one of these is selected ahead of him) Rodriguez, Gazaniga, Ward-Prowse, Butterfield, Stephens (assuming JH is unavailable in which case I'd drop Fonte to the bench) and Shaw

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SaintNick added 13:29 - Sep 21 I was under the impression that Ramirez was a wide player, we are desperate for wide players, if we have signed ramirez to play in the centre then we are in big big trouble as we will be exposed time and time again on the flanks as we have been in the opening four games
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slynch added 14:13 - Sep 21 saint22 I seem to have a blind spot for Spiderman. Everyone says he is good but I can never see it for some reason. He plays in a not very hi-vis position some say. I could put him back in the starting 11 I have chosen but that means Davis of Ramirez goes?? Who should it be??
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stmichael added 14:54 - Sep 21 I started a RL thread on the back of comments such as above. However I should not be surprised as you were campaigning for Lee Barnard to start ahead of him last season! What with your stance on FOX Nicholas I am beginning to wonder if perhaps you are not very well? :)
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stmichael added 14:56 - Sep 21 Top heavy up front? We have SRL and errr Chung , Jay Rod , Zambian As if any of them are fit to clean his boots!
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SaintNick added 15:11 - Sep 21 Top Heavy up front ????? we have spent somewhere in the region of £10 millioon J Rod & Manyuka when we only play one up front, to compete with Lee and Sharpe before his loan, so yes we are top heavy up front, I would rather have seen us get in a class central defender instead of another forward after all the swiss league is top quality as young boys showed against Liverpool reserves last night I think your memory is going Mick, barnard was injured for the first half of last season I think your referring to the season before

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ExiledSupporter added 15:32 - Sep 21 Nick, if the Villa game proves one thing then it will be where NA sees Ramirez playing. You may well be right that he will be more of a left sided player, I only saw the shortest of clips of him at Arsenal and you saw all of the game, so are better placed to make informed comments. Like you I think he will stick with 4-5-1 at least for the present, but put AL on the left; let's see how it goes.Wheree he places Ramirez from the start will tell us much.The advent of Ramirez isn't in my mind as an alternative to someone like Buttner, who I think we agree would have been a wiser purchase in the circumstances. My interpretation of this summer's events is that Ramirez became the option for the central midfielder through whom much of our play would flow (not that I am saying that was necessarily the right strategy! Let's hope for the best tomorrow and then debate it again after the result

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SingaporeSaint added 16:16 - Sep 21 Just sorted out the bar for tmr night - all those lucky people who are going to watch Saints. Maybe us 'exciles' are a similar bunch but I am fairly certain that Ramirez will be in the middle of the park, the link man in the hole. He is a 2 footed support striker. He played as a support striker when he came on at the Emerates. His comments pre signing saying 'they will build the team round me' do not smack of a guy signed to play wide of 5. We dont and wont have a natural winger and I expect AL will need to play wide left. I expect a bit of movement between AL and GR but on the whole GR will be in the middle... Those who think we may have replaced the biggest strength we have may lead to an interesting topic for next week! : )

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SingaporeSaint added 16:18 - Sep 21 Just received this on twitter via MLT. Paulo Gazzaniga has confirmed he will start for Southampton in goal tomorrow against Villa #SaintsFC
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stmichael added 17:29 - Sep 21 Nick I think we are top heavy up front in personel but I was referring to quality. SRL is streets ahead of them all whichever system we play and I agree with you why pay 7 mil for JROD if we were only going to play 1 up front and our need at the back was far greater. Rickie is instrumental to us whichever system we play.
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