Russell Martin has felt first-hand how tough it's to take valuable points from Conor Coady and Leicester City. Thus, he is aiming to swoop in for Coady to strengthen his lineup alongside Southampton's league-leader ambitions.
Despite football being a team game instead of individual battles, there are always scary stats that make players and sometimes the teams accept the inevitable defeat before even playing. When it's a club going winless against a certain bunch of quality players for years, it's advisable for them to bring those select few big-game performers into their lineup instead of facing them.
Well, they can also hail from the rivals bench, and it's rare to expect some kind favours from bitter opponents, isn't it? In Southampton's case, points and table positions matter the most in front of Leicester City and unluckily, the player-luck factor talked above works to their disadvantage.
Enter Conor Coady, who, as per Transfermarkt, isn't invincible in those head-to-head games but his vital presence alone determines how close Southampton can compete. As an example, the Saints were restricted goal-less when the former took the field, and when he didn't, it was a win-thrown-away kind of atmosphere.
Saints need a lacklustre Leicester defence to secure a crucial win there
Finally, the St. Mary's faithful know when they will escape this dreadful tally and Russell Martin is the one deciding those dates. According to the Daily Record, Martin and Coady are both willing to work with each other and they can become allies as soon as the end of the month.
Touchwood, but this Coady rumour mustn't get swept away without a signing announcement because then, Southampton would have to go through another 180 minutes of hustling past Coady for a scarce three points.
And the fixture can become a forfeit-like scoreboard if Coady, Vestergaard and even Saints' own Ronnie Edwards find themselves listening to Marti Cifuentes' commands. On the flip side, can Southampton deliver a clean sweep over the Foxes with Edwards thriving under Still and Coady under Martin? This should also be a talking point worth exploring.