‘The best team in the league’: Bolton boss Schumacher on Southampton
What Schumacher saw in Southampton
Bolton’s manager gave his verdict on Friday and did not hold back. Southampton, he said, are the best team in the league.
Schumacher believes Southampton will probably go on and secure promotion this year. He put that down to how they have dealt with the noise around the club.
That noise is a long list: a four-point deduction, removal from last season’s play-off final, and a head coach handed a suspended six-week ban by the FA on the 8th October. Southampton have played the last week as if none of it were happening, with a derby win and an away win in the space of four days.
How much weight should anyone put on it? Managers say kind things before they arrive.
Still, he is not guessing about the division. His Bolton won at Norwich in September and at Wolves on Tuesday, so the opinion comes from a side with the same experience of other promotion hopefuls.
Southampton have the home evidence to match Schumacher's verdict. They have won all five league games at St Mary’s, and Saints Marching highlighted Opta’s finding that they have spent more time in winning positions than any Championship side.
The away record is a different conversation. Wednesday at Norwich was the first league win on the road. Eckert, for his part, admitted that topping the derby win will not be easy and said he wants the crowd with his side again.
The counter-attack Bolton are planning
Schumacher expects Southampton to come and have a go at Bolton. He also admits there are spells when they attack less and become harder to break down, so his answer is to defend well enough to hit back on the counter.
Saints Marching listed five Bolton threats to contain, with Sam Dalby and Atsuki Ito both scoring at Norwich and Wolves from very little game time. Schumacher plainly believes the counter is where he finds them.
His praise for Finn Azaz sits in the same press conference. Bolton’s manager called him one of the best players in the division, if not the best, and called him extremely intelligent.
Azaz is the player Bolton most need to handle if they want to keep that counter-attacking plan alive. Gavin Bazunu, who joined Bolton permanently on the 28th August, will return to St Mary's for the first time since his departure.
Schumacher called Southampton the best team in the league on Friday, and by full time today he will know whether he meant it as a compliment or as a warning to himself.
