According to Adam Pope, this is the ‘perfect’ time for Leeds United to face Southampton when Russell Martin is under pressure.
The BBC Leeds journalist said in Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet (September 25) that he understood that the Saints boss had more “good will” than his unpopular predecessor Nathan Jones last season, but he asked to “keep it” for the white people.
clash on Saturday (September 30).
BBC colleague Jonny Buchan has raised the prospect of an interim manager or a “new person in charge at this stage” as Daniel Farke takes his dynamic team to St.
Mary’s this weekend, in which Martin lost four while recovering.
Buchan said (26:40):
“Then you look at next week and think about Southampton, if they still have Russell Martin in charge then you can go there.
“If not, another view could be that because they have returned home, it could be a temporary caregiver, it could be a new person in charge at this stage.
Who knows, but it would be better if they kept it.
Simon Rix replied
“Surely they did it, right?
” If they’ve made that decision, they need to give more, otherwise, you’ll just change.
The Pope added:
“Our BBC Solent colleague, Adam Blackmore, wrote a long article about the situation at Southampton and he said that the difference between Martin and Nathan Jones, who was quite overlooked at the time of his departure, was Nathan Jones continuing to be the good coach he has been and his past.
“Russell Martin doesn’t do that and he has a very good [or] decent record.
So I would say there is probably more goodwill towards him, but don’t forget they lost [Tino} Livramento, [Romeo] Lavia and [James] Ward-Prowse.
“They started well, and I know they had one or two of them, and that’s gone, but I still expect them to come back.
But yeah, let’s keep it this week because I think it’s the perfect time for Leeds to play them.
Injured animals
Clearly, Southampton are struggling and Leeds United are showing more and more confidence at the moment but they must avoid complacency for their trip to the south coast.
The Saints won’t need to be reminded that both teams are in the same boat when it comes to being relegated from the Premier League this summer, so a direct comparison could cause a wider reaction to their poor performance their.
If a change is made to the home team, it will be difficult to say what the home team’s reaction will be, but with just eight games left in the season it would be too early to sack Martin.
The last time Farke took his players out early in a competitive match, he left Millwall with another important 3-0 win on September 17.
And with Georginio Rutter, Ethan Ampadu, Joel Piroe and Dan James all in great form, the German will certainly be confident ahead of this match.
But whoever is in the opposition will certainly have to make it clear to his players that they cannot allow any drop in intensity as he looks to continue his encouraging unbeaten run.