It has been a difficult first few weeks for Southampton in the Premier League as Russell Martin’s team have lost all three of their league fixtures.
On paper, the fixture list was not unkind to Russell Martin as Southampton faced Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Brentford ahead of the first international break of the season.
It is incredibly disappointing, then, that Southampton have lost all three games; conceding five goals and scoring just once.
The most recent of those defeats – a 3-1 loss at Brentford – highlighted Southampton’s shortfalls, with mistakes building out from the back the Saints’ downfall in West London.
Martin will stick to his principles in the hope that he can turn around a poor start to life as a Premier League manager and here are three reasons he should be optimistic Southampton can get off the mark against Manchester United on Saturday.
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Southampton know they should get chances against Manchester United
In the 1-0 defeats against Newcastle and Forest Southampton looked blunt in attack as they struggled to create.
However, this was less of an issue against Brentford as Martin saw his side squander a number of opportunities before Yukinari Sugawara eventually scored the Saints’ first goal in the Premier League this season in the 95th-minute.
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The good news is that Manchester United are a team who tend to give up multiple chances, with Erik ten Hag’s side conceding five goals in their last two games.
In fact, in their 3-0 defeat against Liverpool at Old Trafford last time out, United faced 14 shots and conceded six big chances.
With opportunities likely, Martin will need his forward players to show greater composure than they have done in the opening weeks of the campaign in order to capitalise.
Tyler Dibling continues Southampton form on international duty
The second reason for optimism is the emergence of 18-year-old Tyler Dibling.
Dibling has come off the bench in all Premier League games so far, whilst he provided two assists when starting in the 5-3 win over Cardiff City in the Carabao Cup.
Martin has so far resisted the temptation to throw the midfielder in from the start in the league but it feels like the United game could be the perfect time to release the shackles.
Dibling’s ability combined with his fearlessness could be a real asset to the Saints as they look to upset United and the fact the youngster played a starring role for England under-19s on international duty will only add to his confidence.
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Dibling netted against Germany as England under-19s lost 3-2 on Tuesday, ending a mazy run with a fine finish from the edge of the box just to capture Martin’s attention a little more.
Russell Martin has had plenty of time to work with Southampton squad ahead of Man Utd
The final cause for optimism is that Martin will have spent every waking hour since Brentford devising a plan to beat United.
The international break has allowed the Saint boss to get to work with those players not representing their countries and try and iron out the poor start to the season.
Southampton fans will hope that this means they see a more polished performance against United.
Whilst no one expects Martin to overhaul his style, many feel Southampton could be a little more pragmatic, with four of the five goals this season of their own doing when trying to play out from the back.
A change of shape could also be in the pipeline, with Southampton looking unbalanced playing a 3-5-2 so far in the league.
The St Mary’s faithful will be in full voice on Saturday lunchtime and will hope their side give them plenty to cheer about in their second home game of the season.