Saints 'run-in will be fun whatever happens'

Southampton sit fourth in the Championship and three points off Ipswich in second [Getty Images]

Southampton are now unbeaten in 18 games in all competitions, are within three points of automatic promotion and have an FA Cup semi-final to look forward to against Manchester City.

It's quite the turnaround from three months ago when they lost at home to Hull City on January 17th, were booed off, and we all pondered whether Tonda Eckert could survive a derby loss at Pompey eight days later.

What happened was Eckert saw the need for change, acted, and they haven't looked back since. So what did he change?

The formation was one, crucially, and the partnerships on the pitch another. They then went on to secure a narrow home win over Sheffield United and draw at Fratton Park and they haven't looked back since.

The move to a back four and the January additions of Daniel Peretz and James Bree have made all the difference in the world, with Bree giving height at right-back.

Eckert trusted a back four finally, feeling they had enough size on the pitch to compete in the Championship without needing three centre-halves on the pitch.

In turn, we suddenly saw players playing in a way they prefer, and a team playing in a shape that their summer signings were bought to play in before Will Still inexplicably changed to a back three after a pre-season in which they played a four.

The mistake he made, and that Eckert made for a time, was forcing the players into a system, and not choosing a system to suit the players at their disposal.

Jack Stephens and Taylor Harwood-Bellis have been the centre-back pairing for every league game of the unbeaten run.

Bree and Peretz have added quality and experience and, of course, as the unbeaten run goes on, the confidence, togetherness and belief in the squad grows and grows.

And as Eckert would say himself, trimming the squad in January was a huge factor in their success. It's enabled him to have better competition for places, more quality training time and more unity in the group.

• How Eckert's Saints have made late promotion charge

Everything stems from the head coach. Eckert is humble, preaches humility, and this shows in the way they play.

Nothing is taken for granted, there is no room for complacency, and the humility shows up off the ball – as Tonda says – work hard, heads down, and on to the next game.

It's a mantra that serves them well, every player I speak to has that mindset.

They know they aren't going to presume anything, and that's a huge credit to Eckert and his staff that everyone is pointing in the same direction finally at Saints, It hasn't always been the way.

The other key factor to what they've done is Eckert's clarity - clarity of messaging, clarity of tactics, and clarity of mission.

Since day one the squad have lapped up his detail and his ability to game-plan, and they love executing his game plans.

When he makes four or five changes to the side, they carry on. It's plug and play football that all comes from hard work and clear messaging on the training ground.

Now having said all that, they haven't achieved anything yet, but that doesn't worry me because I honestly can't see them falling apart.

They may not win the FA Cup and they may not get promoted, but what I don't envisage is a collapse in the season at the final hurdles, they're just too focused for that.

In Tonda we trust, as the fans say, and while he won't look further ahead than Swansea, I think they can absolutely make the final home game against Ipswich at the end of the month a game where they might just be playing for automatic promotion.

It's going to be fun, whatever happens. It's been quite the ride since January.

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