Saints travel to Ipswich Town hoping to make it 3 wins in a row for the first time since April 2024, if they can do this then they will post a firm notice of intention that they will be up in the front runners in this seasons promotion race.

The wins against Wrexham & Northampton were hardly convincing, but what they did display was a dogged ability to dig in and grind out a result even when playing badly and they say that is the sign of a good team.

In the season opener last week at St Mary's they rode their luck at the back and continually gifted Wrexham goalscoring opportunities and this is Will Still's dilemma at the moment.

In that game we played two youngsters with Jack Stephens in the middle as the Captain, although Jack was the hero at the end with the last minute goal, it papered over the cracks in the back line.

So here is Still's dilemma we need a leader, an organiser and just as importantly someone who is a nailed on starter, is Jack that ?

At Northampton Taylor Harwood-Bellis came in and to be blunt he should start in the centre of the defence ahead of Jack.

So if that is to be the case, then do we stick with a back 3 with THB flanked by Edwards and Quarshie or do we revert to a flat back four, in which case THB is still the anchor, but who do you play next to him from that starting 3 against Wrexham and we haven't even mentioned Nathan Wood or Charlie Taylor yet.

So there is an awful lot of thinking for the manager to do before this game and indeed after it, yes I have written this before, no I haven't got anything against Jack Stephens he is a good squad player, but he is not a leader and he is not an organiser and that means he is not a Captain either.

This issue has not been dealt with by successive managers, we haven't really had one since January 2017 when Jose Fonte left & Virgil Van Dijk got his long term injury.

We are over stacked with central defenders who can play football, but none of them are leaders, at least not yet in the case of the youngsters.

To quote from the 1980's Blackadder series, there are two schools of though on this one, everyone else says you do need one, but Southampton managers seem to say you don't, I know what school I'm in.

Who plays out wide is another question, will we play wingbacks or revert to that back four, and play conventional wingers I would hope that Ryan Fraser is in the starting line up somewhere in either set up.

Elsewhere in the side I would hope that Flynn Downes is fit and ready to anchor the midfield alongside Shea Charles, I would hope that Matteus Fernandes is fit enough to sit in front of them , if that is the case then we have a good chance up at Portman Road.

Up front we have a plethora of strikers who are proven in the Championship and can score goals plus Damion Downs whose experience is mainly in the Bundesliga 2 in Germany and the USA International side.

It will give us an advantage in the closing stages if we are chasing the game, but although all played their part against Wrexham in pushing them back, none as of yet have found their scoring boots, they all need a goal to kick start a scoring run.

Ipswich for their part have not made many signings, up front they have replaced Liam Delap with 29 year old Chuba Akpom, the former Arsenal academy player has joined on loan from Ajax, whom he joined from Middlesbrough in 2023 after his one good season where he scored 28 goals, his other 10 or so seasons are not that impressive.

But they have also lost key players, not just Delap, but from their Promotion winning side of two years ago, Nathan Broadhead has just left for Wrexham, Cameron Burgess who was a rock in the centre of their defence has left for Swansea, Marcus Harness has gone to Huddersfield, Massimo Luango to Millwall, Sam Morsy to Kuwait, that is 5 players who were the bedrock of their promotion push last time.

At Birmingham on the opening day, Ipswich were poor, their only shot on target was the 96th minute penalty that got them the 1-1 draw,, they are not the side who romped to automatic promotion two years ago.

So we should go without fear, we have as it stands at the moment the best squad in the Championship in all departments, some of those players might leave, but they will be replaced, we should look forward with confidence, not pessimism.

We went down unceremoniously last season due to poor management both on and off the pitch, all of that is changed, Ipswich did not do much better and little has changed apart from losing some key players.

But the first test is this trip to Portman Road and we have to come through it unscathed, a draw would not be the worst result, but a win would really see us setting the pace for the season.

All Photos Via Reuters

mgprobert added 10:05 - Aug 15 'Up front we have a plethora of strikers who are proven in the Championship and can score goals plus Damion Downs’ - and Robinson, but I don't feel confident about any of them scoring at the moment?! Lets hope they score a hat full to prove me wrong COYS
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saintmark1976 added 10:07 - Aug 15 Just avoid defeat. Teams that generally win at home and avoid defeat away get promoted. Massively overrated statistics about possession, shots on target etc etc are totally irrelevant if you stick to the basic mantra above. It really is that simple.
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dixiefrog added 10:46 - Aug 15 I’m going for 0-0 score as neither side seems to know how to score, this might seem negative but right now I think it would be a great result for Saints.
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StAnt added 10:48 - Aug 15 I think Wood has continually improved and deserves to be in contention for a start. He was our best centre back against Northampton.
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underweststand added 12:57 - Aug 15 I'd go along with mgprobert (above). We need to see who scores amongst our striker force. OK if we have 4 or 5 who can make double figures, or one who finds form and reaches 20+, but just now it's hard to see which combination we start with and how they work together. On paper we are overloaded with defenders, but again..what combination will work best. If we are anticipating Fernandes and / or Dibling to move then we need to find the balance in the new midfield set-up after the departures... and possible new arrivals. It's still early season and hope we have a better picture before the end of the window...or ? As both Ipswich and Leicester were "equally bad" as we were last season, those two clubs will set the marker for how we need to perform. Ipswich ?... One point at least.

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WestSussexSaint added 13:02 - Aug 15 I think you are plowing a lonely furrow on Stephen’s. He has his faults for sure, but aside from the goal he was our best defender against Wrexham and made some crucial tackles. If we play a back three then I expect it to be Stephens , THB (assuming he came through his first match back on Tuesday with no issues) and Quashie. This means Edwards drops to the bench but from the first two games I don’t think he at the level yet to play against the better teams in this division. If Still goes with a back two then it will be Stephens and THB. Also expect Manning to start. I hope we do go for a back two as we can then add more in midfield so hopefully we will see the 3 you predict which should have enough to dominate Ipswich as their midfield has been decimated on the off season. I also hope Ross Stewart is over his illness enough to start in the 9 role. If not then expect Downs to start. Arma is not right so needs to be an option off the bench rather than plan A. Robinson and Wee man deserve to be the two wide attackers. It’s a good time to play Ipswich as it feels that their offseason has been more disrupted than ours. Fingers crossed for 3pts but would be happy with a draw.

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Bowlercow added 13:59 - Aug 15 Transfer noise continues to surround Fernandez so I will be surprised if he starts.Likewise Dibling At Lens he often played a 4 2 3 1 formation and I think that could fit our squad The only but is Stephens because the best pair at CB are Quashie and THB With Shea and Flynn protecting them the woyld be pretty solid A m/f three of Frazer, Fernandez or Matsuki,gand Arma should be able to feed either Stewart or Downes A bench with attacking options like Robinson,the unused no9 above and Archer could again give us a late finish

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Block8 added 15:37 - Aug 15 Quite simply, if we continue with a very high press, we need pace at the back. Quarshie has that pace but seemed less aware of the long balls from Wrexham than Jack? If we're going to play 5 at the back, I would prefer a 5-3-2 set up, to allow the wing backs room to go forward. It looked like we were getting in others way at Northampton & hopefully this would address that!

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Monksway added 17:00 - Aug 15 I really don't think Stephen's leadership is the major issue for WS to solve. He is leaning towards a back three because there are six championship level central defenders and either Flynn or Fernandes has been unavailable in midfield. I feel both Frazer and Robinson have done enough to start but with three at the back that leaves room for one striker.. Hopefully Stewart will start this time and actually lead the line as Armstrong, Downs, BBD and Archer have been very poor at holding the ball up and bringing others into play - let alone scoring - over the first two games.

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