Southampton have come on leaps and bounds since Will Still exited the building in early November.
At the time of his dismissal, the South Coast club was in freefall, and looked set to be in another relegation tussle at the foot of the Championship, just months on from relegation from the Premier League.
Now, under Tonda Eckert, the Saints have a great chance of bouncing straight back up to the promised land of the Premier League, with the German getting so much more out of a select group of players than the Belgian ever was capable of.
Eckert’s transformative powers at Southampton
Indeed, it’s quite remarkable how much Finn Azaz’s fortunes at St. Mary’s have been transformed, in just one example, under the methods of Eckert.
Staggeringly, the Irishman would collect zero goals and assists under Still, from nine games under his regime.
Under Eckert, in stark contrast, he has managed to become one of Southampton’s star performers, with nine goals and six assists showing off Azaz at his silky best in the Championship.
With Taylor Harwood-Bellis also recognising that Eckert has an urge to want to “help you” from the sidelines, it’s clear that everyone – for the most part – in the Saints camp is singing off the same hymn sheet.
Weirdly, though, there is one star – who was once one of Russell Martin’s favourites on the South Coast – that has seen their gametime significantly dry up, ever since the radical 33-year-old took on the reins.
The surprise star who has faded into the background
Eckert has kept much of the spine that succeeded during Martin’s memorable promotion season of 2023/24, with the aforementioned Harwood-Bellis and Flynn Downes remaining as two crucial cogs in the German’s machine, who both tasted promotion under the previous regime.
One player who has fallen to the wayside, in stark contrast, is Nathan Wood, who started 11 games last season under Martin, as the Saints depressingly ended the season at the bottom of the entire league on 12 points.
Still, the one-time promotion winner, while managing on the South Coast, was always extremely complimentary of the defender, with Martin once lauding the 23-year-old – who he worked alongside at Swansea City as well – as “tremendous.”
Still certainly took to Wood, too, before he was handed his early marching orders, with nine of his 28 league appearances for the season falling under the unsuccessful reign of the ex-Reims manager.
Initially, Eckert was regularly starting him, but he hasn’t started a game for the South Coast outfit since the 17th of January, now, when Hull City travelled to St. Mary’s.
Staggeringly, across this barren patch outside of the starting XI, Southampton have surged into life in the promotion race, with the Saints 12 games unbeaten in the Championship, since Wood was pushed to one side after the narrow 2-1 loss to the Tigers.
The popular German is unlikely to reinstate Wood into his first team plans, soon, as well, as unnecessary tinkering might well cause the Southampton machine to break down.
Once costing the playoff hopefuls £3m to snap up, it will be intriguing to see where Wood’s future lies, as it’s clear there is a lack of space available for him at St. Mary’s currently.
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