The St Mary’s outfit have a final game before the March international break on Saturday – when they will host Tottenham Hotspur – and that will take us into the last 10. Saints will next play in two weeks’ time, with a visit to West Ham United. David Moyes’s side are also fighting a relegation battle despite still competing in the Europa Conference League knockouts. Reaching the magic 40-point mark seems unlikely for bottom-place Saints, who would need 18 points from their remaining games. However, Selles will want to total as many as possible.
Ruben Selles said: “I don’t want to sit on defeat for one hour, that is what I can tell you. So imagine for two weeks. I will prepare every game to win the game, to do the best performance we can and to get the best results. That’s what I want for tomorrow, I don’t think about what will happen if we have to sit on a defeat for two weeks though. It’s all about what we can do today. Then it’s what can we do tomorrow, how can we support the boys during the game and do the very best performance. Whatever will come will come.”
Selles still has the difficult task of leaving half a dozen or more fit seniors out of his 20-man matchday squads every week, due to the number of players he has. The likes of January signing Mislav Orsic are among those not playing regular minutes, while Samuel Edozie has also fallen down the order under Selles. The boss was asked if a defeat like Wednesday’s – losing 2-0 at home to Brentford – gives him the opportunity to consider players as of yet not making an impact.
Ruben Selles said: “We didn’t get all the principles we want against Brentford. We analysed what happened in the game and how we can attack (against Tottenham). Tomorrow is a different challenge and we may use a different player, but we’ll learn from the key moments of the defeat on Wednesday night. I think every player should have the hope to get into the team if they work hard and we are happy with what they are doing. They can control their performances and what they do and then it is up to me to pick the team. I can understand that from the outside, it seems players are disappointed. Sometimes people are disappointed, all of us in any given job think we can do it and in football with other people making the decisions it is difficult.”
