The team at BBC Radio Solent bring you all the post-match analysis from Southampton's 5-0 Boxing Day win over Swansea City.
The latest episode of Goin' Home With Adam and Jo dissects unchartered territory as Russell Martin's team made it six home wins in a row, 16 games unbeaten and the club's best league run since 1950.
The Christmas spirit and the deluge of games that come with it is upon us.
For a player, it’s a crazy time. What’s mad is everything is happening festive wise and you want to enjoy it in some way – like a party for the lads if you can fit it in. It means you feel you have some kind of Christmas.
But the games keep coming, especially at the top end if you’re in several competitions. Then you have the training load and training on Christmas Day. I won’t lie, that is psychologically a challenge not to feel a bit sorry for yourself. Sometimes you think everyone is having a good time, but you have to think how many people would swap with your position. You have to realise and think about what you are doing.
But when you have your kids there playing with their new toys and you have to go training, that is a big sacrifice It’s not about money, it’s just human nature.
What I think they should do is make it compulsory that you cannot train as a club on Christmas Day. That way, no one gets an advantage. What happens is you see is the owners will question why you didn’t train if you lose on Boxing Day.
Boxing Day is brilliant to play on. You can see the bigger crowds and feel the festive spirit. I used to love having Christmas Day off and playing on Boxing Day. But only a few managers will trust you to have that day off, Neil Warnock was one of them.
It’s a tiring spell and I will admit, I have been set to play on Boxing Day and wondered if I’ll get through the game as I’d had too much Christmas dinner.
Playing in this spell, you have to take it as a privilege. You are playing so everyone else is able to watch football at that great time of year.
Image source, Getty ImagesSouthampton boss Russell Martin said striker Ross Stewart is unlikely to play for Saints again this season.
The summer signing didn't feature until November and has suffered a fresh setback, with his hamstring injury worse than first thought.
Martin said: "We’ve got to be really honest about Ross and realistically we won’t see him again this season.
"Although it’s short-term pain for us, long-term we need Ross to have a full pre-season to then risk him for maybe three or four weeks this season seems a little bit crazy.
"With Ross, we had to re-scan his injury to allow the initial swelling to go down and it wasn’t very good news. Devastated for him and the bad news just keeps coming unfortunately.
"I still maintain he will be a brilliant signing for this football club over a long period of time. We just need to make sure he’s right and ready to hit the ground running in pre-season."
Millie Sian, BBC Sport
Russell Martin has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Championship game against QPR.
Here are the main lines from his news conference:
Martin is "really looking forward" to the busy Christmas period and playing four games in 10 days: "I don't think I've ever played on the 23rd before, with it being so close to the Boxing Day games, but everyone has to deal with it. I think we have a good squad and good depth so we're going to need everyone, for sure."
Southampton are expecting a "tough game" against QPR: "They are a team looking very different to before. They have had some good results and they look like they are really starting to enjoy working with the new manager."
There are no fresh injury concerns. Jack Stephens played another 45 minutes for the under-21s this week, as he continues to gradually build up his fitness.
On how his team will set up at Loftus Road: "We are going to go there with a clear gameplan, clear identity, with a group of supporters who have been amazing on the road, with real good momentum and real good belief in what we are doing."
Reflecting on the first half of the season, Martin is "more excited than when he first walked into the building", the team is "loving the challenge", he is "really proud of what the team are doing on the pitch" and "the connection between the supporters and the team".
He added: "The only frustration and annoyance I have is with myself. The four-game period is really frustrating but, either side of that, the players have been amazing. The support we've had since we've been here is really brilliant. I'm really grateful to be in this position as manager."
Image source, Getty ImagesBBC Radio Solent's Tom Deacon and Adam Blackmore return for the final Saints and Sinners podcast of 2023.
The latest episode is full of festivities as they welcome a mystery guest onto the show, look back at some of the best Christmas games Southampton have played and preview the club's upcoming league games, including Saturday's trip to QPR.
Harry Tizard, The Saints Score, external
Southampton's stellar run of form stretched to 14 games unbeaten with an emphatic 4-0 thumping of Blackburn Rovers.
It was an imperfect week for the Saints, who dropped points against Coventry City on Wednesday, but six draws apiece from teams in the play-off positions shows that it's impossible to be faultless in a relentless Championship season.
It's also a deserved result for Russell Martin. Dominant displays haven't always been conveyed in the scoreline, but his side were ruthless in front of goal. The boss has constructed a squad built on belief.
Many of the plaudits rush towards Adam Armstrong's goals, Kyle Walker-Peters' brilliance and Flynn Downes' quality in the midfield. However, equal credit must go to those with limited minutes.
Sam Edozie had to wait for an opportunity and could be forgiven for getting frustrated on the bench, but two goals in two matches convey that he was always ready for his chance. Joe Aribo started one of the first 19 fixtures, but his patience has paid off with three consecutive starts.
Sekou Mara got his goal after a slow start to the campaign and Ryan Fraser once again showed his hunger off the bench to make an impact.
Image source, Getty ImagesBBC Radio Solent's sports editor Adam Blackmore discussing Southampton's win over Blackburn on the Going home With Adam And Jo podcast: "Saints didn't score until past the 40th minute but I thought in the first 20 minutes they set the game up with the way they came out. They mixed their game up better than they did at Coventry, who sat deeper in the first-half. We knew Blackburn would play a risky game and that transpired. They did play out from the back a lot but Saints were ready.
"They set traps and, barring the free-kick in the first-half and one or two chances in the second, Blackburn offered nothing going forward."
Former Southampton midfielder Jo Tessem added: "If I can be a little bit critical, because on a good day you have to find a few things to correct as well, there was one problem and that was on the right hand side. Normally we have (Kyle) Walker-Peters who attacks so well and James Bree was playing there.
"He had a good game today but it was a little bit of a problem to stretch the game out. He wasn't high enough and wide enough for me at times because we played with Adam Armstrong out there who will drift inwards.
"When he goes in we need this wide player to drag the game and open spaces up. It might just be that he was five or six yards off his perfect position but he was off five to six yards and that made the game a little bit tighter in midfield and up the pitch.
"With him getting the five or six yards right, which he did in the second-half, that meant the pitch and the game opened up."
Image source, Getty ImagesSouthampton manager Russell Martin has said Adam Armstrong is going to have a "great" season, as the striker prepares to face his old club Blackburn Rovers for the first time since signing for Saints.
Armstrong has scored 12 goals and assisted six so far in the Championship this term, and has been a regular wearer of the captain's armband.
"He has been incredible," said Martin. "As a person first, and with the goals as well. He is brave and aggressive. He is just like a warrior.
"Every team meeting we show a clip of him recovering. He is a striker and tackles and wins the ball. He is demanding of himself and his team-mates, which I think is really important. That's one of the reasons why he has been wearing the armband.
"I think he is going to have a great season. He had a great season for Blackburn before he got his move here and I think he is starting to show people what he is about again."
BBC Radio Solent's sports editor Adam Blackmore discussing Southampton's draw against Coventry on the Going home With Adam And Jo podcast: "The general consensus on my Twitter is that there was too much possession for not too many goals. The fans' frustration is that they look like a play-off side rather than an automatic promotion team. We are talking about a 13-match unbeaten run but three straight away draws."
Former Southampton midfielder Jo Tessem added: "In the Watford game we had control in the second half and conceded in the 96th minute. We switched off - that’s a different mistake. Against Coventry we didn’t deserve more than a point. We dominated possession but there is no momentum and no end product.
"We should cut down on possession, play more risky and play more forward and when we have moments like today where the game goes back and forward, we are the ones who kill that tempo. Coventry wanted that tempo."
Blackmore: "Watford lost one in nine games. They had two great wins going into the Saints game. Coventry kept four clean sheets in five and had three wins in the last four games.
"The Saints have come up against two teams on their own patch in really good form. We are going into games presuming because we were in the Premier League last season thinking we can beat everyone. Even away from home."
Image source, PA MediaSouthampton midfielder Flynn Downes is likely to be available for Wednesday's Championship match against Coventry City after recovering from illness.
Downes, who is loan from West Ham United, missed the 1-1 draw at Watford on Saturday.
"He trained today, felt good, felt relaxed, fingers crossed that's the case for tomorrow," said manager Russell Martin on Tuesday.
"Flynn is a leader, [him missing is] going to impact the team somehow but I thought Shea [Charles] was brilliant. He's an outstanding young talent - I think he's getting better and better. But, of course, we'll miss someone like Flynn. He's been so influential and important."
Saints' opponents Coventry are in mid-table, having lost to Luton Town in last season's play-off final at Wembley.
"They have so much unity in their group," Martin told a pre-match news conference.
"It was no disrespect to Luton and Rob [Edwards] - because I really like Rob - but to watch that journey and to see them [Coventry] get to the Premier League would have been amazing.
"I have a huge amount of respect - but I want to beat them tomorrow."
Harry Tizard, The Saints Score, external
Southampton’s delight turned into dismay when Gavin Bazunu failed to deal with Rhys Healey's stoppage-time strike from outside the box, forcing the Saints to settle for a point against Watford.
They were punished for being unable to build on a 1-0 lead for the fifth time this season (losing one and drawing four), with Russell Martin’s men falling 10 points behind second-placed Ipswich Town.
Despite only four teams scoring more goals than Southampton in the Championship, the full-time whistle at Vicarage Road was followed by calls for a new striker, with many pinning the blame on the Saints’ goalscoring ability for dropped points.
Adam Armstrong leads the way for goals, scoring 12 in 20 games, triple the amount Che Adams has in second. Will Smallbone is the only other player to score more than twice this campaign.
A new forward might be on the Christmas list, but it is easier said than done.
Nobody wants to sell an in-form striker in January, as it would hamper their ambitions. Loan deals are possible but calls for Danny Ings [well out of his prime] and Armando Broja [destined for a top-flight move] are based on memories rather than realism.
