Simon Rusk believes taking a clean sheet should be the objective against Aston Villa. To ease that challenge, Rusk wants the players to put up a similar 0-0 display as they did in front of Fulham in his leadership.
In the last month or so, Southampton have left no stone unturned in constantly finding the back of the net. Even if it's a solitary goal, the Saints are gradually amending their scoring flaws but that often goes unnoticed as the match progresses.
And there's a simple root cause behind it which is their inability to put their finishing touches to the result.
Now, take pride in the team's goalscoring prowess as much as you want but there are unanswered questions as to whether this strategy is doing any good to them.
Simon Rusk sends Fulham motivation to Southampton
Fortunately for Southampton, they seem to have made up their mind on devising a different playing routine. Agreed, it came at the cost of Ivan Juric's managing duties but the Saints are coming to terms with the idea that a rock-solid defence holds the keys to their Premier League success.
Before competing against Aston Villa, Simon Rusk clarified this stance and even referenced the Fulham stalemate as a source of inspiration.
In his own words, Rusk was quoted by the Daily Echo: "One thing is for certain, if you deliver a clean sheet, you're going to get something out of the game. That's always a priority for me as a coach."
Sticking to this clean sheet ambition, it's clear that it will take Southampton a lot of doing to back Rusk's comments. As far as stats are concerned, the Saints need to travel all the way to that Fulham trip only which Rusk singled out for praise.
Optimistically, Southampton only conceded once against Saturday's visitors but will they reduce this margin of error to zero, remains to be seen.
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