SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - MARCH 03: Detail view of a corner flag ahead of the Premier League match between Southampton and Stoke City at St Mary's Stadium on March 3, 2018 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images)
St. Mary’s chiefs made a move for an interesting option before appointing Russell Martin.
Northampton started the second half strongly, with Sinisalo again denying Hoskins, Alex Hartridge making a last-ditch stop to deny McWilliams, and Sinisalo then making saves to deny Louis Appere and Kieran Bowie.
Exeter attempted to equalize, but the game’s second goal would extend Northampton’s lead, when Tyreece Simpson and Bowie combined to set up Brough to finish.
Northampton’s win was their first since beating Cheltenham at the end of August, and Jon Brady’s side will look to make it back-to-back victories when they host Reading on Tuesday night.
Adrian Clarke, a commentator covering all of England’s football leagues, claimed on the ‘What The EFL?!’ podcast that the south coast manager won’t be able to guide his team to promotion and predicted that he will be terminated before the conclusion of the season.
According to the guy in command at St. Mary’s, Sport Republic are entirely cognizant of the current situation and have given their full support behind the manager, although information have emerged that he wasn’t actually their first-choice target over the summer.
Did Southampton want to appoint Enzo Maresca?
Speaking to GiveMeSport, CBS reporter Ben Jacobs confirmed that Southampton made an approach
What is Enzo Maresca’s Leicester record?
Since taking over as manager at Leicester in July, Maresca has overseen 11 games in total, winning nine and drawing two, with this form implying that he’s averaging 2.45 points per match in the Midlands, according to Transfermarkt.
for Leicester City’s Enzo Maresca, but he turned down the chance to join because he preferred the project on offer at the King Power Stadium. He said:
“I think he was sold on Leicester because their foundations and the strength of their squad going down were just stronger. So I don’t think that Maresca ever seriously entertained, Southampton, but it’s absolutely true that he was approached.
“The appeal of Southampton would have been there’s a few that have obviously moved or had at the time (from Manchester City), because Romeo Lavia has gone now to Chelsea and Gavin Bazunu is another one, though, that is still there who had come from Manchester City, that he would have known very well.”
The Italian, who has a preferred formation of 4-3-3, also already knows what it takes to beat Martin’s side having produced a 4-1 thrashing at St. Mary’s in September, so if he can have this positive impact when leading the opposition, imagine what he’d be capable of if he was in charge of the home outfit.
Furthermore, the 43-year-old shares the same agent, Wasserman, as Ryan Manning, James Bree, Flynn Downes and Ryan Fraser, so his representative will already hold a strong, existing connection to the hierarchy, making it even more of a shame that an agreement couldn’t be reached.
However, if the club don’t start climbing the table as expected, Maresca is certainly a candidate that chiefs should consider targeting once again should they decide to sack Martin in the near future.
