Southampton played out a feisty encounter in their penultimate pre-season contest against Lazio, with Russell Martin trialling Ryan Manning in another new position in the 1-1 draw.
Southampton played their first friendly of the summer in front of their home fans as they welcomed Lazio to St Mary’s on Wednesday night.
Russell Martin kept a number of his expected first-choice XI on the bench from the start against the Italian side, with the likes of Flynn Downes, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Adam Armstrong expected to play a bigger role against Getafe on Saturday.
New signing Ben Brereton Diaz opened the scoring five minutes into his full Southampton debut before a stunning unorthodox volley from Valentin Castellanos levelled the scores before half-time.
Lazio had the better chances in the rest of the match, with the main talking point the sending off of both Carlos Alcaraz and Alessio Romagnoli after tempers boiled over in the second-half.
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Ryan Manning plays centre-back for Southampton against Lazio
One of Martin’s first acts after becoming Southampton manager last summer was to sign free agent Ryan Manning after the left-back’s Swansea City contract had come to an end.
The left-back struggled to hit the heights of his final season in south Wales after following Martin to St Mary’s, with his quality in possession often undone by his weak defensive work.
A player Martin rates highly, Manning was in and out of the team towards the business end of last season but has been a feature of pre-season.
Having played in his natural left-back position and as a wingback this summer, Martin surprised supporters by playing Manning in centre midfield in the 2-0 loss at Oxford United last week.
Against Lazio, the 28-year-old played another surprise new role, as he lined up on the left of a back three alongside Nathan Wood and Ronnie Edwards which allowed him to step into midfield as and when he pleased when Southampton had the ball.
Russell Martin trying to find way to accommodate Manning in Southampton XI
One of Southampton fans’ frustrations last season was the way in which they felt that Jack Stephens was shoehorned into the team at times.
The centre-back missed the bulk of the first half of the campaign through injury but Martin played the defender at left-back and in a roaming role at times upon his return.
Now, it appears Martin is trying to do a similar thing with Manning, such is his desperation to find a way of getting the Ireland international into his side.
Given his passing ability, a role that allows Manning to step into midfield and help dictate the tempo of games is an idea that makes sense.
However, the concern would be how this looks when the Saints lose the ball and Manning would be an obvious weakness for Premier League strikers to target if he is to play as a central defender.
Whether Martin will continue with this Manning experiment into the season remains to be seen but it is certainly one to keep an eye on.