Southampton face Stoke City on Sunday for the final day of a long 16/17 campaign.
This year has had its ups, downs and everything in-between, and after 52 matches in all competitions, Claude Puel will look to help his side finish the season with a much needed three points.
Southampton’s 2016/17 campaign has had mixed opinions from fans, with many frustrated by Puel’s negative tactics and lack of confidence in front of goal.
But the Frenchman has given Southampton one of the best cup runs in several years, as Puel lead the Saints to an EFL Cup final at Wembley, which was narrowly lost to Manchester United 3-2.
Puel has recently been put under scrutiny, as reports are linking him with a move away from St. Mary’s, so I believe this is Puel’s time to show why the board put faith in the Frenchman.
But now we need to think about what Saints need to do in order to win the final game of the season.
Firstly, I don’t believe we need to play every first choice player. There is not much to play for part from eighth place and I believe that it’s a good time to show off the quality players that we have on offer. Rotation hasn’t been liked by many Saints fans, but now is a real time to give some substitutes some minutes to regain confidence.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, for example. When he has started or played matches, you can see the quality is there, but he doesn’t have the confidence and understanding of the Premier League game just yet. The likes of Oriol Romeu and Steven Davis, who have almost played every minute for the club, have shown in recent weeks how tired they are from this long season, therefore Hojbjerg should replace one of the two midfielders against Stoke, as Hojbjerg won’t have a lot of pressure on him and will be able to show what he can really do.
On the topic of midfielders, I feel sorry for Jordy Clasie is recent weeks. He’s been unlucky this season, and perhaps should have started more games than he has.
Clasie started the season playing a lot of games for us, as he fitted well into the 4-1-2-1-2 “diamond” formation. However, since the change to the 4-3-3 and then the 4-2-3-1, Clasie just hasn’t been able to cement a place in the line-up, only making three appearances in the last 14 games.
However when Clasie has started games, most noticeably against Middlesbrough and West Brom, the Dutchman has impressed for us and even been our standout performer, with a goal or two to show for it. I think Clasie deserves a start.
Moving a bit further back now, to our defence.
We’ve been put under pressure this season with the sale of Jose Fonte to West Ham and the long-term injury to Virgil van Dijk, which meant Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens were thrown in at the deep end to fend off anything they’d come up against but boy, did they do a good job.
Jack Stephens has been phenomenal in recent weeks, and looks to be a promising young talent. Maya Yoshida has also been terrific and has been so solid for us all season. However, I think one of them should probably be rested ahead of Stoke, and I believe it should be Maya Yoshida.
He’s played a lot of games this season and deserves a rest, and there’s only one man to replace him: Martin Caceres.
Caceres has only played one match in the Premier League against Middlesbrough, and his signing proved to be just as a backup, but I think Caceres should start not only to make the fans happy, but to give Yoshida a rest.
Ryan Bertrand has been terrific all season and should replace Matt Targett in the squad, but with Cedric Soares in doubt after that injury he sustained against United, Jeremy Pied should start. He was terrific against Middlesbrough last week and deserves to get his second start of the season.
Finally, onto our attackers. Saints haven’t been very fortunate in these positions this season, but they do have enough to give some others a chance.
Firstly, Dusan Tadic should be dropped. He’s been awful in recent weeks and doesn’t deserve the chance. I think Puel needs to be brave here and put Sofiane Boufal in this position. You could see against United how Boufal and Tadic had completely different ideas on how to attack the goal and it just didn’t work. Boufal needs to be given a chance.
James-Ward Prowse and Nathan Redmond have been sublime all season, and I believe that they should retain their places. Ward-Prowse’s consistent free kicks and corners are so unique, and Redmond’s pace and composure on the ball are too much to be dropped.
But the question is: who should be our striker? I think it should be Manolo Gabbiadini.
Gabbiadini has been so unlucky in recent weeks and has lost all confidence after missing that penalty in midweek. Charlie Austin looks fit enough to play, but I don’t believe that he should start just yet. Gabbiadini needs to finish the season on a high and should lead his team out on Sunday.
Let me finish with how we need to go out there on Sunday.
This is the final game of the season. We must finish on a high; a loss or a draw is not an option. We need to give it as much as possible.
We cannot be scared and play defensively all afternoon, we’ve got to put pressure on Stoke to try and get mistakes out of their shaky defence. Gabbiadini can’t be the only one to do that. But most importantly, we need to take our chances.
Many a time this season have we missed out on three points after countless shots on goal, but on Sunday this cannot happen. We’ve got to go out, onto our own fortress, and show Stoke what we can do.
We March On.
