TONDA Eckert believes his Southampton side “look as good as they have all season” and has warned Middlesbrough that Saints will be ready to go in the play-offs.
Southampton haven’t lost in the Championship since mid-January, with their 19-game unbeaten charge catapulting them up the table and into promotion contention.
Eckert’s side fell just short of the top two but with a 3-1 final day victory at Preston climbed above Boro to finish fourth.
After that win at Deepdale, Eckert gave his players a couple of days off, but they were back in yesterday as attention turned to their Teesside trip for Saturday’s semi-final first leg at the Riverside.
“I think the boys will be happy not to see me for two days,” said Eckert at the weekend.
“I will make sure that I don’t talk too much on Tuesday.
“I need their full focus on Wednesday, and then we are ready to go. At this stage of the season, the boys look as good as they have all season.
“The boys are as ready as you can be. We now have two days off to recharge physically and mentally, and then we go fully at Middlesbrough.”
Boro thumped Southampton 4-0 at the Riverside back in January and at that stage Saints looked nothing like promotion contenders. Eckert – who replaced Will Still earlier in the season – cut a sorry figure at full-time that day and faced some challenging questions in the post-match press conference that followed.
A home defeat to Hull followed which left Southampton 15th in the table, but Eckert’s side then set off on their surge.
Despite coming up just short in their bid to reach the top two, Eckert said: “We will be fully ready to go in the play-offs. There are not too many teams that want to face us at the moment.
“That’s a credit to the boys. The campaign is over now, so it’s a new competition that starts over the next three games. We will be ready.”
Having finished fourth, Southampton earned home advantage in the second leg, which tends to be beneficial.
Eckert said: “For me, it doesn’t make a big difference. It might be a small advantage, but it doesn’t matter. We need to find a way either way.
“It’s just important to win the game today and come into the play-offs with the feeling of winning a football game.”
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