‘A Lot Of Optimism’ – The Word On Southampton

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‘A Lot Of Optimism’ – The Word On Southampton

It’s the dawn of an exciting new era at Southampton under manager Russell Martin, says Adam Blackmore of BBC Radio Solent.

2023-09-15T07:48:00.000Z

by Sam Jones

Published

15 Sep, 2023

‘A Lot Of Optimism’ – The Word On Southampton

It’s the dawn of an exciting new era at Southampton under manager Russell Martin, says Adam Blackmore of BBC Radio Solent.

Sam Jones

2023-09-15T07:48:00.000Z

‘A Lot Of Optimism’ – The Word On Southampton

It’s the dawn of an exciting new era at Southampton under manager Russell Martin, says Adam Blackmore of BBC Radio Solent.

Sam Jones

2023-09-15T07:48:00.000Z

‘A Lot Of Optimism’ – The Word On Southampton

It’s the dawn of an exciting new era at Southampton under manager Russell Martin, says Adam Blackmore of BBC Radio Solent.

Sam Jones

2023-09-15T07:48:00.000Z

‘A Lot Of Optimism’ – The Word On Southampton

It’s the dawn of an exciting new era at Southampton under manager Russell Martin, says Adam Blackmore of BBC Radio Solent.

Sam Jones

2023-09-15T07:48:00.000Z

- Southampton welcome Leicester City to St Mary’s Stadium on Friday (8pm kick-off)- BBC Radio Solent’s Adam Blackmore gave his take on the Saints’ start to the season- They have won three of their first five Championship games under Russell Martin- The manager’s new approach has gone down well with the majority of fans, he believes

Speaking to Matchday Live in the build-up to Friday night’s encounter between the Saints and Leicester City, an 8pm kick-off at St. Mary’s Stadium, the journalist provided insight into how the south coast club have adjusted to life in the Sky Bet Championship.

Another side who suffered relegation from the Premier League last term, there is a sense that Southampton have been able to maintain a side strong enough to target promotion back to the top flight.

Blackmore said: “I think both clubs are relived that the transfer window is over after the last month. It’s been a real period of transition, as we know. The player ins and outs have been frantic.

“When you look at what happened on the final day, we’ve probably both got better squads than we thought we might have, because players who we expected to go have stayed. Leicester are looking the strongest team in the Championship and Saints aren’t far behind.

“It’s very hard to tell what you’ve got but what we’ve certainly enjoyed is late drama in matches, lots of goals, but not enjoyed having so many goals against.

“Despite keeping players who have a lot of Premier League experience in defence like Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Gavin Bazunu - who is young but has still had a season in the Premier League - they’ve been shipping goals for fun, which has made it difficult.

“And I think the challenge of Leicester will be a real challenge for a team who are without captain Jack Stephens because of his injury and might be without Bednarek because of an injury with Poland this week.

“We’ll wait to find out, but the fact is that Leicester are going to provide a much more acute and sharp test of their defensive nous when you look at the quality up front.”

The new man at the helm is implementing a style of play which Saints supporters have taken to, though a 5-0 defeat away to Sunderland last time out was not the way Martin wanted to sign off ahead of the international break. Other results have been much more positive, with three wins and a draw leaving the Saints seventh in the early Championship table.

Blackmore added: “Russell Martin is going down very well with the fanbase generally. They have warmed to him. He’s very open, he answers questions, he speaks from the heart. I think he is authentic. That’s what I like about him. He’s got that authenticity that you get with Mauricio Pochettino and Ralph Hasenhüttl.

“It matters to them. When they lose, you can see the hurt on their face. They’re not just in the job because it’s a job. The style of play is very much about keep ball, so I’m fascinated to see what happens against Leicester, because they’re the same.

“Against each other, who will get the ball? I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it seems we’re going to have an interesting night with two very specific ways of playing that aren’t too dissimilar to each other.

“There’s always a bit of dread about Friday nights against Leicester. I do think there’s a lot of optimism in general though and I’d like to think that maybe the two-week break after the 5-0 drubbing at Sunderland might have actually helped a bit.

“Players will have gone away, cleared their heads, had internationals and come back with a different mindset. If they’d had a Tuesday game at home after that defeat, everyone would be on edge.”

All times BST.

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