After Southampton had scored their third goal at Wrexham on Tuesday evening, when the celebrations died down to give way to jubilant chanting, the away support in the Wrexham Lager Stand began to chant: “We’ve got Eckert, Tonda Eckert. I just don’t think you understand”.
To which the honest answer is no; no I don’t. And I don’t think that you do either. Three months ago I went to watch Southampton for a piece – having spoken to numerous supporters – about how many things the club had got wrong and how much their decisions had undermined hopes of immediate promotion back to the Premier League.
Now promotion is back on the table and a top-two finish isn’t totally out of the question (although it is highly unlikely). Southampton are the form team in the Football League and have reached an FA Cup semi-final. They may well go to Wembley in April and May. None of this makes much sense.
Those criticisms were entirely valid and those problems have not gone away; that is important to note. Money has still been wasted in vast quantities and sporting director Johannes Spors is still under intense scrutiny for those who have seen Southampton drop from Premier League mid-tabler to Championship top-sixer. The culture of blame that fans believe exacerbated mistakes has been tested less recently, but will be again.
Last summer was still a problem, because Southampton generated good money from selling Matheus Fernandes and Tyler Dibling and recruited haphazardly. Only one of their 10 summer signings started at Wrexham on Tuesday.
Because their managerial journey over the last few years has been so patchy and pockmarked, can we have any faith that the current fillip was born out of anything other than happenstance? Southampton sacked six managers in 18 months (four of them lasting 17 matches or fewer) and the guy transforming their season now was the caretaker until someone else came along who got the job.
Eckert may be the subject of supporter adoration now, but that wasn’t guaranteed until very recently. He took three points from 21 having been appointed permanently. It is hardly outlandish to think that Southampton may have made a change if that run had continued in an attempt to salvage a wayward season.
And yet, true to form for this bizarre, baffling campaign, Southampton have won 13 and drawn three of their last 16 matches in all competitions, including beating two Premier League sides in the FA Cup, Coventry City at home and Wrexham 5-1 away. On these twists, whole careers can change.
Eckert has also become far more flexible, and with good reason. He sat back and countered against Fulham, dominated possession on the front foot against Oxford United, beat Coventry City with the 4-3-3 and won the midfield battle and went back to counter-attacking against Arsenal. Even within the same game against Wrexham, you notice Southampton attempting to do different things in different periods.
Finally, they were able to keep recruiting. In January, with Adam Armstrong sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Southampton signed goalkeeper Daniel Peretz from Bayern Munich and striker Cyle Larin on loan from Mallorca. Both have been revelatory but it’s the physical presence and running of Larin that stands out most. It’s as simple as the style combining with the profile of forward to fit it and supercharging. Having Finn Azaz behind Larin is a cheat code when they play like this.
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There’s another theory of course: the power of privilege. Southampton are a parachute payment club and the field is slanted in their favour. Against Wrexham, they changed a central defender, striker, both central midfielders and both wingers from the Arsenal tie and the starting XI barely looked weaker.
Their squad depth is arguably better than anything else in the division. Behind me, a family of Wrexham supporters conclude as they leave that they have seen nothing like this all season from home or away sides.
You’ll forgive Southampton supporters for not caring right now. If the difficult questions haven’t been silenced for good, there’s finally something to get behind. The third youngest team in the Championship are on a roll and the youngest manager in the EFL is quickly learning on the job. Southampton may have landed upon their dream ticket, even if it was by accident.
