"Don't get too carried away" - Matt Le Tissier issues caution over potential Southampton, Tonda Eckert managerial appointment | OneFootball

Saints made it three wins in a row with a 5-1 success over Charlton Athletic on Saturday

Southampton legend and pundit, Matt Le Tissier, has been amongst those to weigh in on his former club's managerial situation as Tonda Eckert only added to his chances of landing the St Mary's gig on a permanent basis over the weekend.

Saints returned to Championship action against a Charlton Athletic side, managed by their former boss, Nathan Jones, on Saturday lunchtime, with the Addicks proving themselves as one of the division's many surprise packages across the opening three months of the campaign.

However, after recording back-to-back victories in a regular league season since April 2024 ahead of the recent international break, the South Coast side's interim boss and their travelling army of supporters were left in dreamland at The Valley as they raced into a 4-0 lead after 22 minutes, with all of Ryan Manning, Adam Armstrong, Leo Scienza and Finn Azaz finding the back of Thomas Kaminski's net within a nine-minute period.

The aforementioned Azaz, who signed from Middlesbrough in the summer, then netted his second of the afternoon on the stroke of half-time, before Charlton defender, Lloyd Jones, rounded off a six-goal haul for both sides in the first half and for the game as a whole with a stoppage-time header.

Unsurprisingly, in what was a weekend of extremely goal-heavy scorelines across the Championship, this particular result was seen as a statement of intent by a resurgent Saints side, who have responded tremendously to Eckert's interim appointment following the dismissal of Will Still at the beginning of the month.

Under-fire ownership group, Sport Republic, are yet to make a final decision on their long-standing managerial search. But, Le Tissier has urged those associated with his former side not to get carried away despite taking maximum points under the 32-year-old thus far.

It was reported ahead of Saturday's encounter that the former Genoa and Barnsley assistant boss, who was appointed as Saints' Under-21s head coach in July, would be overseeing matters against Charlton, as well as Southampton's upcoming fixtures against Leicester City and Millwall, whilst the ownership group continue to plan towards a concrete decision.

Speaking to Football Insider, Le Tissier was understandably pleased that the Reds backed up victories against Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday after a two-week break in the EFL schedule, but believes the performance levels in those two encounters in particular, still weren't remarkable, which is a complete contrast to the weekend's developments in South London.

“I mean, the fact that he’s won the games that we’ve had under his stewardship obviously goes in his favour," the former England international said.

“On the flip side of that, in the game against QPR we were hanging on a little bit, and then we beat a fairly average Sheffield Wednesday team at home, so I don’t think you can get too carried away by those two results.

“The fact that we haven’t appointed a manager at this stage tells me that maybe they’re going to give him a little bit longer as an interim to try to prove that he’s up for the job," Le Tissier claimed.

Across his three matches in interim charge, Eckert has certainly restored confidence when it comes to Saints' attacking play, having scored nine goals in said timeframe, albeit no clean sheets have been recorded, which will come as a slight concern.

However, supporters are now starting to look upwards rather than over their shoulders, with the 5-1 success against Charlton lifting Southampton to 16th, and they are now just four points outside the play-offs with 30 league games still to play.

The upcoming encounters against Leicester and Millwall will be a test as to just how far Saints have come under Eckert's management, with the Foxes returning to winning ways against Stoke City on Saturday, whilst the Lions have been in and around the top-six for the past month or so under Alex Neil.