Ryan Manning sounded increased competition for places after Tottenham flop show | OneFootball

Ryan Manning has been made aware of Charlie Taylor's upcoming return. With this, the left-back competition could increase if Manning replicates his Tottenham flop performance again.

Honestly, the Tottenham Hotspur visit had a lot of match-related talking points in the making but those aspects hardly got any decent fan attention. Instead, Southampton bringing down Ivan Juric from the coaching pedestal became the gossip of the Premier League and the Saints also followed suit by keeping the match aside.

Now, for those Southampton fans who tuned in for that relegation-bound fixture, they would have accepted that a 1-1 result wasn't a distant possibility.

The Saints conceded two avoidable goals and who knows they may have crafted a win had Aaron Ramsdale's faint touch denied the penalty goal. And fingers must be pointed at the back-line's carelessness which included Ryan Manning's fault as well.

The 28-year-old has emerged as Southampton's best one-on-one defender in recent times but he didn't seem to have any plan to nullify Brennan Johnson's trickery on the left side.

Rusk intends to solidify the left-back position

Now, the fans can ignore these occasional errors as just a bad day but Simon Rusk isn't satisfied and his actions convey this feeling. Recently, Rusk has offered an unexpected optimism around Charlie Taylor suggesting that he is on track to be ready for match selection.

Talking to the Daily Echo, Rusk spoke about Taylor: "He's a great lad, a great professional. Hopefully, we can see him back out on the grass in the next few days."

Evidently, the message from Rusk's side is clear. Either Manning needs to come out on top while facing right-sided forwards or make way for Charlie Taylor or any other left-back competitor.

It may seem like an excessively impatient move from Rusk but Southampton fans can't deny that immediate measures are needed to restore the club's morale. Let's hope that Manning puts in an appreciable defensive shift against Aston Villa so that the thought of replacing him doesn't arise soon.