Three big questions for Southampton ahead of Ipswich Town

Kieran McKenna's charges were promoted from League One last season after recording 98 points and losing only four games all campaign.  

Ipswich have continued that form and currently sit third in the Championship with five wins and one defeat in six fixtures. 

Martin's Saints operate with a significantly bigger budget but do not have the same momentum as their visitors after back-to-back heavy defeats. 

READ: Saints predicted team to face Ipswich Town 

Can Martin sort out the defensive issues?

Southampton have conceded 16 goals in their first six matches, the most of any team in the EFL and tied with the Championship record. 

Nine of those have come in the last two, in which Martin has seen his two first-choice centre-backs absent through injury in one after the other. 

The defensive issues at Saints are long-running and they are without a clean sheet in 24 matches, having shipped the most goals of any Premier League team last season.

Martin’s tactics are not defensive-first, shall we say. Swansea City, under Martin last season, finished 10th  but only the relegated three and QPR conceded more.

The advanced roles of Kyle Walker-Peters and Ryan Manning are indicative of the approach and Martin is not going to deviate from his principles.

However, speaking to the Daily Echo at Staplewood last week, he insisted regular tweaks based on the situation will come – he adds he is not naïve to that.

Southampton’s aim will remain to outscore the opposition but only Norwich, who scored four at Saints, have netted more than Ipswich’s 12 in six so far this season.

Goals are likely to come again but keeper Gavin Bazunu will, hopefully, have taken confidence from a strong performance despite defeat against Leicester.

Martin hopes Jan Bednarek will be back in time to face Ipswich and there will likely be an enforced midfield shuffle.

Can injury absences be used to redress the team’s balance?

Flynn Downes lasted just one minute of the second half on Friday before he was forced off with an injury.

Asked by the Daily Echo at full-time, Martin admitted some concern at the nature of the injury and expects Downes to be absent for a short while.

Adding his players were “dropping like flies”, Martin faced being without Sam Edozie if a knock he suffered was more sinister - but that does not seem to be the case. 

However, one of the biggest issues in Martin’s side in the last two matches has been an ineffective midfield.

Downes is undoubtedly a good player at Championship level but shifting Shea Charles to defensive midfield could offer a better balance in the midfield.

The Northern Ireland international is effective at stopping the opposition transition and would allow Bednarek and Taylor Harwood-Bellis to focus on defending the box.

It could be a chance for the 19 year old to nail down the starting spot for the time coming. It would likely be a mistake to instead task Will Smallbone with this role.

It will be interesting to see who makes up the midfield three, with stand-in captain Adam Armstrong currently completing the trio ahead of Charly Alcaraz and Stuart Armstrong. 

How will St Mary’s respond to recent struggles?

Despite not having produced the best performances, everything seemed to be going perfectly to plan just over two weeks ago.

Amid all the transfer uncertainty and ‘building in flight’, Martin’s side had taken 10 points from the first four Championship fixtures.

However, the shock 5-0 defeat at Sunderland raised concerns, even if it could be attributed to playing just hours after a tumultuous deadline day.

What Saints needed to do against Leicester City was settle early and prove Martin’s assertion that mistakes would be learned from.

Instead, while hostility between the away fans and home supporters ahead of kick-off was still audible, Saints self-destructed.

Having given Leicester a lead in just 21 seconds and allowing them the opportunity to extend it 15 minutes later, St Mary’s reacted.

Speaking after the match, Martin was clear to state he does not blame the supporters in any way but he admitted it became a difficult atmosphere for his players to perform in.

The manner of the third and fourth goals has led to some questioning of the tactics and Martin’s side would probably rather be away from home tonight, in truth.

Newly-promoted Ipswich have lost just once and won their other five in the opening six and will come to St Mary’s smelling blood.

After conceding in the third minute at Stadium of Light too, the first 15 minutes tonight are going to be crucial to settle the frustrated supporters.

If Martin’s charges hand their opponents a head-start again, the ‘scar tissue’ from last season that the gaffer has previously discussed will risk being aggravated further.