Saints V Manchester City The preview Friday, 6th Dec 2013 17:31 Saints face in form Manchester City at St Mary's in an injury crisis that will see at least four of the usual starting line up unavailable due to a variety of injuries. Artur Boruc & Morgan Schneiderlin are joined on the sidelines by latest casualties Nathan Clyne (groin stain) & Wanyama (hairline fracture) and it could be five first teamers out if Jose Fonte fails a fitness test, this is added to fringe player absentee's Kelvin Davis, Guly & Danny Fox. Earlier this week I highlighted the fact that Saints had used a core of only 12 outfield player for the 10 positions and how little the squad had actually been used with these dozen only occasionally augmented by some of the fringe players even off the bench. Now we seem to be paying that price, tales of double training sessions and getting the players to tip top condition to play a high tempo pressing game were impressive, but perhaps in all the frenzy no one really noticed how hard these dozen players were being worked and they could never hope to keep up this level of fitness without picking up injuries along the way and this seems to be the case now. But the double whammy is that now we need these fringe players to come in and perform, the reality is that in many respects they are like players coming back from long term injury, yes they have trained and yes they are fir, but they lack that sharpness that is only gained from playing competitive matches, this was shown in the two lapses in concentration on Wednesday that cost us two goals. But it isnt all doom and gloom, Jack Cork is a great player, Yoshida an International defender who despite regular lapses of concentration last season still put in some good games and in Callum Chambers we have a quality youngster who after such a solid start to the season, really should have got more game time and highlights how badly we have spread the burden and used subs wisely, not just tactically but in order to give players a rest. When a team finds itself in this sort of position though, the trick is not to make matter worse by over complicating matters, get back to basics, put out a solid team and keep it simple, with so many changes we dont want to be getting back to the situation we had when Pochettino tried to keep both svaldo & Lambert in the side when one of them was being foced to chase back in midfield which left un ineffective both up front and in midfield, keep it simple so that everyone knows what they have to do and then when we have stabilised the game we can start to impose ourselves on it. Patience is the key, with so many changes we cant hope to emulate the high tempo pressing game that we employed so well using the same personel week in week out, so lets not try, keep it tight and play the game as we did against City lat year, harass them in the centre of the park, but dont give them the room to get behind us and counter attack as we did a little too often last year. I would employ the following starting line up. Gazzaniga Chambers Yoshida Lovren Shaw Jwp, Davis, Cork Lallana Rodriguez Osvaldo Suns Cropper, Fonte, Hooiveld, Lambert, Lee, Gallagher, Ramirez Now this is a better side than we had at this point last year in many respects and it does have some balance off the bench, its very easy to bemoan the injuries and after our great start feel that the world has now collapsed, but the truth is the players come in served us well last year, perhaps not to the level and consistency that those that are now missing did, but they could still do a job on the day, Danny Fox is slated by a large minority of of our supporters, the same people who now aclaim our win against Man City last year, but they all have forgotten that it was Fox and not Shaw who played left back that day, OK Fox wont be playing on Saturday due to injury, but it emphasises how easy it is to see things through red tinted spectacles and remember things a little differently to what they actually where, Fox didnt let us down that day but his detractors forgot that quickly and like back then those coming in now need to step up to the plate. It will be tough, City are just hitting form, but they are not infallible and if as I say, we keep it simple, dont try to over extend ourselves and put in the work rate then if the crowd gets behind the team then there is no reason why we should not end our losing streak and show that it is a squad game. The key man in this game will be Mauricio Pochettino, if he gets it right then we can spring a surprise. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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