Southampton head coach Russell Martin has denied any notion that he will throw some of the younger players into the team ahead of this afternoon’s fixture at home to Stoke City.
Back-to-back defeats for the Saints have all but ended the team’s chances of earning promotion back to the Premier League through the automatics, meaning the club are likely to end up in fourth place by the end of next weekend.
Should Martin’s men hold their current position in the Championship table, they will face a two-legged tie with either Norwich City or West Bromwich Albion as both clubs are locked on 72 points prior to this weekend’s fixtures.
🔜 Stoke (h)
Russell Martin speaks ahead of Saturday’s clash: https://t.co/VHbQFnGvrL
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Southampton host relegation-battlers Stoke later today before facing a gruelling trip to Elland Road to take on Leeds United on the final day of the season. With a spot in the play-offs confirmed, there was speculation that the Saints may play some youngsters to give them a run-out in the side.
However, speaking in his pre-match press conference to the Daily Echo, Martin has rejected this conjecture as he believes it is not beneficial to the club nor the players at this stage of the campaign.
“They have not had many minutes at all this season so to throw them in now?
we would be trying to get them ready for games of such big magnitude and it’s probably not beneficial to them or us right now,” Martin continued.
“I think we have far too many players on the bench who are super-talented and haven’t played many minutes.
“There might be some people who get a few minutes to try and prove their case to get into the team. They’re excellent players, but not yet.”
Writer’s View
The young players in question may well have been Jayden Meghoma and Tyler Dibling, who were named on the substitutions bench on Tuesday as Southampton suffered a humiliating 5-0 defeat to Leicester City who are now promoted following Leeds’ defeat on Friday at Queens Park Rangers.
However, Martin is right. If he is to hand them an appearance in the team, today’s clash with Stoke would be the place to do so. The game in Yorkshire next weekend against the Whites, who will be desperate for three points in a hostile atmosphere, certainly won’t be the right time.
