How do you preview a game like this, Southampton V Coventry City April 28th perhaps the most important game from a financial point of view in the Club's history.
Many words have already been written or quoted about this Saints V Coventry fixture, in the past this game has often been synonymous about qualifying to play in the Premier League the following season, although usually its been about relegation of one or both clubs rather than promotion, but whatever has been said so far or in the next 24 hours, Im sure that it isnt understating the importance of this one football match to the future of Southampton Football Club.
The key for Nigel Adkins though is consistency, the belief in his side and letting them get on and finish the job, yes results havent quite gone our way in recent weeks, but the blunt truth is it hasnt so much been about our overall pla, but defensive errors, individual errors in the main, the problem here is Adkins has little options in replacing the culprits in the centre of defence, so he just has to go and run with it, this being the case then he shouldnt compound the problems with too many changes in other areas that could upset the balance, if Nigel wants us supporters to believe then he has to show us that he too believes and that he isnt running scared and going to throw in wild cards here and there, yes keep the odd wild card for the bench, but our usual starting line up is good enough to beat most.
Personally I wouldnt be too unhappy with the following, assuming that everyone apart from Richard Chaplow are fit.
Davis
Butterfield, Fonte, Hooiveld, Fox
Guly, Cork Schneiderlin, Lallana
Lambert, Sharp.
Subs, Bart, Richardson, Hammond, Martin, Barnard.
That has just about the right balance, some will ask why I dont include De Ridder, personally apart from the fact he just hasnt contributed anything from an end product perspective, I do think we need at least one attacker on the bench and in Barnard we have a man who can put himself a bit and create as well as score goals and i think attack has to be the priority.
If Morgan Schneiderlin is fit and plays that has to be a big boost for Saints, his coverage in front of the penalty areas at set pieces has cost us several goals since his abscence, not least Pompey's equaliser and Boro's on the stroke of half time last Saturday.
If I was the manager and i wanted to just freshen things up then I would be tempted to put in Fraser Richardson in right midfield in place of Guly, Richardson is at his best going forward and I think to give him a little bit of a freer role than he has at full back could just be worth a shot.
What can i say its a must win game of course, but then again so was the defeat at Doncaster in November, if we had won that one then we wouldnt be going through this excrutiating nervy game tomorrow.
Perhaps this is our most nervy game since the great escape season in 1999, of course our relegation against Man Utd in 2005 should have been one of those days, but at the time i felt that the spirit had been knocked out of both the players and the supporters by the inept Harry Redknapp and his "dont give a F*ck" attitude that he adopted for his year at St Mary's.
But that spirit is there now, at least on the surface, like all those last day relegation battles in the 90's we will now find out whether spirit is something we have below the surface or whether its just words easily spoken as in 2005.
Saints can do this, lets be blunt if we had to choose a side to play in this do or die game ourselves, it would be Coventry, already relegated, worst away record in the division, lowest goals scored on the road, almost the worst conceded, on paper it should be easy, but its on grass not paper as the old cliche goes, but having said that all we have to do is what we are good at, at St Mary's and that is beating visiting sides, especially ones in the bottom half of the table, of the bottom 14 sides, only Bristol City have won and only Pompey and Ipswich have got a point, the rest have been well despatched, all we have to do is do it one more time.