Southampton are traversing a turbulent path right now, recently sacking their second permanent manager of the campaign before agonisingly missing out on a new manager in Jesse Marsch, who had reportedly been “set” to complete a deal.
In the ensuing days, caretaker manager Ruben Selles, who had arrived last summer as second fiddle to Saints’ former long-time boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, took the reins and led the daunting charge at Stamford Bridge to gallantly seek salvation against Chelsea, who, despite their own troubles this season, were well aware that victory was the only acceptable option.
As fate would have it, James Ward-Prowse’s wand of a right foot dictated the flow once more, and the south coast club escaped from the lion’s den with all three points, now just one point adrift at the bottom of the Premier League table.
Selles masterminded this victory, bagging the goods in his Premier League debut as the club’s first-team manager, which comes as a timely surprise to all affiliated with the endangered top-flight outfit, who may now turn to the interim leader and offer a permanent seat at the head of the table.
However, according to beIN Sports anchor Richard Keys, Southampton must lay waiting for the Blues’ manager Graham Potter to receive the sack, with Chelsea having won just one of their past ten matches across all competitions.
Keys said: “If Chelsea get on and sack Potter as they should – there’s a very good job waiting for him at Southampton. He’d be perfect there.”
Could Potter really end up at Southampton?
While Potter is currently enduring the torrid task of managing chastened Chelsea’s copious pool of players, it would certainly be unfair to say that his time in west London has been a comprehensive insight into his capabilities as a top-flight boss.
After departing from Ostersunds FK for Swansea City in 2018, having led the Swedish minnows from the third tier to the top division in the Scandinavian nation, Potter’s possession-based emphasis and fluid philosophy started to seep into English football, and after landing a tenth place finish, Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion made a swoop.
Over his three full seasons in charge, the 47-year-old recorded 15th, 16th and ninth-placed finishes, earning plaudits for his tactical vision and seamless implementation into the Albion set-up.
And departing the Seagulls for Chelsea earlier in the current campaign, having forged the early work that has left his former outfit perched proudly in seventh place in the division after 22 matches, Potter’s influence has been crystallised.
It hasn’t, however, worked out at Chelsea thus far, with the Blues tenth in the league and out of both domestic cup competitions; despite spending in excess of £550m since the summer, the prestigious club face the inconceivable prospect of missing out on Champions League football next season.
And if Southampton were to complete a transfer, it would represent a return to the energetic, buoyant and gegen-pressing football that was so often on show under the endeared Hasenhuttl’s tenure – depsite losing 9-0 on two occasions, the Austrian manager was held in very high esteem, a testament to the job he was doing in Hampshire.
Brighton were often tagged with an inability to finish despite the free-flowing nature of their overall play, exuding a verve that belied their initial lowly standing in the Premier League over Potter.
And with Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola once waxing lyrical over the “aggressive” style that is a prominent cachet of a Potter system, it certainly seems that he holds the tools to rekindle the fire that has dimmed to a heap of smouldering coals in Southampton.
Should the former Seagull be handed the keys by owners Sport Republic, he could instil the very same aura that left him so revered eastward across the south coast, and given Saints’ position, this could be the very remedy to ail their woes.