Ipswich Town v Southampton The Preview
Can Saints defeat Ipswich and rekindle waning hopes of one of the most spectacular comebacks in the history of the Premier League relegation struggle? Or is it going to be another loss? I believe that we are now preprogrammed to respond to that question.
Southampton fans are now in shock, and the players aren’t much better.
Looking back, we can see that we would have had a chance if we had won just two games since Ivan Juric arrived, but instead we’ve lost straight games, some with respectable performances and, for that matter, excuses, and others where, to be honest, it was incredibly embarrassing.
We compete in games, and Ivan Juric has undoubtedly given the team a fighting mentality.
However, he hasn’t yet established leadership or organization on the field.
He seems to have given up on this season and is already considering the next one.
Although Juric promised that it was a fresh start and that everyone would have a chance, Cameron Archer, Charlie Taylor, and Armel Bella-Kotchap might argue that hasn’t happened.
However, there is experience and leadership in the background.
We have ultimately lost these games due to our terrible and disorganized defense.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Jan Bednarek are both good players who are on Premier League level, but they do not make a good central duo for some reason that I cannot quite identify.
What will Portman Road’s manager do then? The good news is that he will have at least three players available that he did not have for the loss to Newcastle over the weekend.
According to Juric’s press conference, Tyler Dibling and Kamaldeen Sulemana are back to full fitness, and Albert Gronbaek, who was signed on loan, is also available.
Juric was a little more evasive about Aaron Ramsdale’s chances of playing, but he is back in training.
Welington, a Brazilian signing, is another possible wild card.
When the teams are revealed, the first thing people will want to know is how many, if any, of them are in the starting lineup.
He could make five changes to the team that lost to Newcastle if he plays them all.
On the surface, it doesn’t seem like bringing in a South American who isn’t a well-known top player even in his own country in Welington will fix the issue, so I would be shocked if more than two of them started. As I previously stated, we lack organization and leadership in the back line.
Bella-Kotchap may have the pace and Charlie Taylor the experience we need, but it appears that Juric has dismissed both of them without considering them.
The striker has had one good game and one bad game; in my opinion, he is better off the bench.
Tall Paul scored against Nottingham Forest but was inconspicuous against Newcastle.
We will show promise, maybe score a goal and have a few near misses, we will likely have a contested VAR call, but we will also mark poorly at the back and give someone an easy chance.
Unfortunately, I believe that at Portman Road, we will essentially do the same things and get the same results.
Since Everton has recently won a few games and the relegation race is now firmly a four-horse race, with one of those horses lagging horribly behind, Ipswich needs to win this game.
In all likelihood, any two of the three teams above us will join us in the Championship the following season.
Perhaps our best chance is that Ipswich is under all the pressure; a victory for us would offer us some hope, but not much, while for them it would give them a significant boost in the relegation fight.
That can occasionally be a motivating factor for the team and the audience, but other times it can be a burden.
The fact is that our season ended badly when we threw away our lead against Ipswich away in the 97th minute. If we had maintained that lead, the season might have turned out differently.
We were essentially doomed when we lost the two-goal lead against Leicester, which may have been the moment Russell Martin should have left.
The Premier League table would now read if we had been competitive in those two games.
16 points for Wolves
15 points for Ipswich
Leicester scored 14 points.
Southampton 11points.
If we had won, the game would have continued into the last third of the season, but we would still be at the bottom.
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