1 week Ago By [email protected] (Jordan Blackwell)
Steve Cooper has kept the best traits from Enzo Maresca’s Championship-winning Leicester City and added his own hallmarks to create a well-rounded team, Southampton boss Russell Martin has said. Cooper and Martin do battle this Saturday (3pm kick-off) in what looks like a pivotal clash at the bottom. For City, it’s a chance to get one over a relegation rival and potentially go six points clear of the drop zone.
For the winless Saints, the game will feel like a huge opportunity for three points. Having faced City twice last season in the Championship, losing by an aggregate of 9-1, Martin is in a good position to note the differences between Maresca and Cooper’s teams. The Southampton boss does not feel Cooper has deserted the qualities of last term.
“I think they’ve got some brilliant traits still from last season when they were asked to play in a really clear way by Enzo,” Martin said at his press conference on Thursday. “They were the best team in the league and they proved that over the course of the season. They were outstanding.
“They still have some really brilliant attributes that Steve has allowed them to maintain. And then as is always the case with Steve and his coaching staff, they’re excellent in terms of their organisation without the ball and making it really difficult for you, and being such a threat on the counter-attack with the players they have. He’s combined both and is doing it well.
It will be an interesting game.” Southampton are without suspended defender Jack Stephens as well as striker Ross Stewart, who limped out of his first start for the club against Arsenal before the international break. Midfielder Will Smallbone and winger Kamaldeen Sulemana have been declared fit though.
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