Will Russell Martin do something different against Spurs, ? Will Saints players be employed to utilise their own abilities, instead of being shoe horned to play way that is clearly not working.
Early indications are that Saints will have a few players returning from injury for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to St Mary's, but to put it bluntly most Southampton supporters have lost faith in Russell Martin and what little positivity there still is in and around St Mary's is fast evaporating and defeat to the North London Yobbo's will just about finish it off.
But it doesn't matter what players are available, it doesn't matter who plays, the pattern is always the same, overplaying along our defensive line and individual errors costing us dearly.
Russell Martin showed his contempt for Saints supporters last weekend when referring to the travelling fans at Villa cheering when the ball was cleared long and that we then conceded within 10 seconds, he fails to point out that had Taylor Harwood-Bellis cleared his lined instead of trying to get the ball down and play, then the ball would have been safely in the stands and not nestling in our net.
Everyone bar Russell Martin seem to know what the problem is, yet he still sails blindly on, insisting that his possession football game is implemented, even when it is clear that for whatever reason, not working.
His answer is not changing the playing style to suit the players he has to hand, which would seem to be the sensible answer, but to keep changing the players to try and find a winning formula.
This has cost us dearly, we are the Premier League team with the most errors leading to goals stat, this is no coincidence.
Good managers adapt their tactics to suit the players that they have to hand, yes I have written this virtually every weekend this season, that is no coincidence either, I do so because it keeps happening and that the manager is unable or unwilling to adapt.
That is now alienating him from the fanbase, only 7 months ago most Saints fans were enjoying one of the great moments in Southampton FC history, our support was at it's best in many a year, yet now it has dropped like a stone and older fans are likening it to the 1983/84 season when then manager Ian Branfoot ironically played the polar opposite of Russell Martin's type of football, what was then called the long ball game.
Branfoot would not change and paid the price in January 1984, we just about saved our skins that season, but we cannot afford to wait till January this season.
Most of this preview so far has been about Russell Martin, that is because he has made this season all about himself, there is almost no point in speculating on what team he will put out or how they will play, we all know that the answer is there will be a scattergun approach to selection and that someone will be made a scapegoat and replaced by someone who has barely played in the previous few games, we know that we will pass the ball along the back and the opposition will be hovering waiting to press and force the inevitable mistake that will cost us a goal or two.
We are like the Titanic heading for the iceberg, but in this case we have a Captain in Russell Martin who is refusing to turn the wheel and try and avoid it, he is ploughing on regardless, because he believes that his way is the only way.
At 5.45 this evening we will see the team he has picked and wonder where a few of the players are actually playing, we will then watch us pass the ball and pass the ball again, it will rarely be passed to a forward, even more rarely, one in the opposition box.
We will then see a mistake and we will then see defeat snatched from the jaws of a draw, most will go home mumbling, some will moan on the internet, nothing will have changed on or off the pitch and we will repeat this again and again unless something changes.
There has to be a catalyst for change, clearly that catalyst is not going to be the manager, back in 83/84 the catalyst was the supporters, who stood up and said NO we will tolerate this no longer !
Where will the catalyst come now, something has to change !