Southampton are in serious danger of dropping down to the Championship for the first time since the south coast outfit secured back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League under Nigel Adkins in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Several managers have come and gone from St. Mary’s in the last decade, including Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman and Claude Puel, but the Saints retaining top flight status has remained a constant throughout.
With Southampton rooted to the bottom of the table and heavily backed to fall through the trap door in the football odds, the club’s chiefs have been forced to take action twice this season — sacking Ralph Hasenhuttl in November before showing his successor Nathan Jones the exit door after just 14 games.
The man tasked with saving the Saints (for now at least) is caretaker Ruben Selles — a man who has out lived both Hasenhuttl and Jones at St. Mary’s. The Spaniard cut a confident figure in a turtle neck and fitted suit for his first match in the dugout at Stamford Bridge and his side came away with the three points as James Ward-Prowse’s freekick added more pressure on Graham Potter.
Selles has a point to prove to the board as he’s much-liked by the Southampton squad, but was overlooked to replace Hassenhuttl for Jones, and a win at Stamford Bridge would have done him the world of good as he aims to become the Saints’ permanent boss. But can the 39-year-old save Southampton from relegation?
Selles has made it clear that he wants to shake the term ‘caretaker manager’ and be given the role on a permanent basis, and a win over Chelsea on the road is a massive step towards that — as would saving the Saints from relegation. However, the concern is that this is nothing more than a fairytale start.
While Jones didn’t exactly enjoy a honeymoon period, perhaps due to his all guns blazing approach that didn’t sit well with many and made him public enemy number one in the media, most new managers do see an uptick in form when they initially take over and it’s often nothing more than a flash in the pan for a few weeks.
But this could be different. As previously mentioned, Selleshas been working behind the scenes with this group of players since joining Hassenhuttl’s backroom staff in the summer, has gained the trust and respect of the players and is determined to prove he is the right man for the job to the board.
It’s still early days, but the players appear to have really bought into his methods since Jones’ sacking and that was clear in the win over Chelsea. Selles reverted back to Hassenhuttl’s chosen formation of 4-2-2-2 for the trip to Stamford Bridge and they made the pitch narrow by pressing the Blues immensely, which Potter’s side just couldn’t deal with.
Indeed, there were heart-in-mouth moments as Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Romain Perraud made spectacular blocks to deny the hosts. But those unbelievable moments of defending and the fact the players and Selles celebrated every important tackle like it was a goal is a good sign that the Saints might just have enough fight in them to survive and then strive under the Spaniard next season.
There is only three points between Southampton and safety with 15 games left to play at the time writing. Anything can happen in that time, but if the Saints can pull together more performances like the one over Chelsea then they should be celebrating come the end of the season in May.
