Saints take on a Leicester City side flying high in the League, however that is based mainly on home form and we need to make sure that their away woes continue.

Leicester City have had a good start to the season and sit in 3rd place ahead of their trip to St Mary's, but that is based on winning at home and in their 4 away fixtures so far they have picked up only 4 points, a draw at Chelsea and a win at Sheffield United in their opening three fixtures of the season.

Since then they have lost twice on the road although in fairness close defeats at both Old Trafford and Anfield were both sealed by penalties.

So our job is to hunt the Foxes down and in doing so push ourselves up to some sort of mid table safety, although going into this game it should be said that a draw would be a good result.

The problem is though that their strengths are our weaknesses, they use the pace of Jamie Vardy to put teams to the sword on the break and we are famously weak defending counter attacks.

As at Wolves we have to try and dominate the game on our terms, if as we did against Bournemouth they drop back and let us come at them with numbers they will catch us on the break and we could again pay for it dearly.

I can't see Ralph changing the starting line up much for this game, he will be pleased with a point at Wolves and the fighting spirit that we had at Molyneux, but that only papered over a few cracks and the problems were just as bad as in the previous three games but we got lucky with VAR saving us.

That is why I again would make at least one change and that would be Kevin Danso in for at least one of our central defenders, we badly lack pace at the back and Danso has that.

He is not a wide player though, he has not got that burst of pace needed from a standing start, but in the centre he is quick enough and strong enough not to get muscled out of the game.

Leicester have the joint best defence in the Premier League, but they don't score that many compared to other teams in the top echelons of the table, of their 16 goals Jamie Vardy has 6 of them and that tells you the way they play and that is to the strength's of the Albert Steptoe lookalike and we have to deal with that or lose.

In truth Saints started the season solidly, but losing three games on the bounce has dragged us down, the Bournemouth defeat was the killer, we dominated the game but got ripped apart on virtually their only three attacks of the game, they exposed our jugular and we have to stop doing that.

It's ifs and buts but had we beaten Bournemouth and we really should have, then we would be above them in the League and things would look a lot rosier, we didn't but this emphasises that Saints position is far from unrecoverable.

Saints position is what it is and all sorts of moaning about it won't change anything, it is not happy clappy but we have to look at what we need to do tonight and put moans and groans in the cupboard for the evening and just concentrate on getting three points and nothing else.

A year ago there was a lot for the fans to gripe at, but now things are changing fast in the boardroom, we have to accept the way the club is run and that the owner won't be ploughing in big money for transfers, however that is no different from at least 12 other clubs in the Premier League.

On the pitch we have a stronger team from a year ago, albeit we still have problems at the back, but we are no weaker than under Mark Hughes, but we do have a better manager, one who has a passion for the club and for the game, if we are not careful and the negativity of the past couple of seasons returns then we will lose him and I struggle to think of a better man we could replace him with, at least one who would come here.

We need to get the siege mentality back this evening, we need to make it fortress St Mary's and get the team looking forward to playing here and not fearing their own fans, results this season at home are not good, we do not want them to get worse.

Photo: Action Images

HythePeer added 13:15 - Oct 25 "I can't see Ralph changing the starting line up much for this game" 🤦🏻‍♂️ PS. Molineux
0

SteveMoron added 13:37 - Oct 25 I don't agree we dominated against Bournemouth. I think they dominated and deserved the win. We were useless.
4

Dobbin60 added 13:40 - Oct 25 Do you mean by ‘things are happening fast in the boardroom’ that people are being sacked without being replaced. LR, RK and RW all gone without any new recruits. In any business reshuffle means a money saving exercise. After over 50 years of watching Saints with a few ups and many downs and many years of mediocrity, our rise from the ashes of almost obliteration to where we are now, for a short period of time I had hope, belief and ambition shared with everyone connected to the club. I look back at what we had, think of what we could of have to what we have got now both on and off the pitch. We have been set back 30 or 40 years. We have a new ground and fantastic training facilities yet we have no ambition other than surviving.

3

landerwal added 13:49 - Oct 25 The 16 goals Leicester have scored this season is better than all but three teams in the Premiership and 7 more than Saints. Given our defensive woes this and the past few seasons, I would be very grateful for just a point. However, I am more pessimistic about us winning/drawing this game than any other I remember for some time. I just hope that Saints can spring one of their historic surprise results on us.

0

saintmark1976 added 14:09 - Oct 25 Nick, when it comes to your continual comments suggesting that we dominated the Bournemouth game. I wonder if you are familiar with the expression " if you tell a big lie enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it " ? We lost 3-1at home and were played off the park by a Bournemouth team that was better in every department. Had it not been for V A R decisions in our favour we could have easily lost by five or more. Please, just accept the situation, put it down to experience and stop trying to rewrite history. Having said the above let's just hope that we can upset the odds tonight and at least make it three wins from fifteen Premiership matches.

3

halftimeorange added 14:36 - Oct 25 Jamie Vardy might not be photogenic but, "the Albert Steptoe lookalike" - I think that's downright insulting. You wouldn't be so contemptuous if he was in our team. Le Tiss didn't have screen idol looks, but that didn't reflect his ability to win a game.
7

Colburn added 14:42 - Oct 25 We desperately need a home win. A draw wouldn't be bad.. but will continue this poor home form which is knocking the confidence out of us. So we have to go at them with more support for Ings. Nick I agree with you re Danso but perhaps he is not tiptop in training or he might be starting CB. I have to say that the defending does not start with the defence. The midfield have not protected them well and give the ball away too cheaply. We seriously lack pace in this area and can't see anything changing whilst the personnel are the same. Ralph needs a good assistant and soon. JWP hasn't produced yet this term in an attacking sense and he's defensively inept. Romeu gets caught ball watching and loses runners and thus PEH is left trying too hard to do too many things. Maybe Danso is the answer at CDM and Armstrong can bring some energy and link better with the forwards. Having seen our issues, its also fair to say we have had a tough start, particularly at home. The wins at Brighton and Sheffield will not be repeated by too many others outside the top 6 this season so they were very good wins. If we can get to December with 4 or 5 points from our next 3 home games we'll be ok.

1

allsaint54 added 19:14 - Oct 25 JWP starts again. How much worse does he have to be before he gets dropped. Unfortunately can only see a Leicester win.
3

Blogs 31 bloggers

Derby County Polls