Claim made on Tonda Eckert's future at Southampton - Saints fans are 'losing faith' | OneFootball

FLW's Southampton fan pundit has given his verdict on Tonda Eckert's future at the club

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Southampton are seven games without a win in the Championship following the 2-1 loss to Hull City on Saturday.

Goals from Kyle Joseph and Charlie Hughes put the Tigers ahead going into half time, and Ross Stewart’s 71st minute strike proved only a consolation as the Hampshire outfit suffered yet another loss.

Since being confirmed as the permanent head coach at St. Mary’s on 5 December, Tonda Eckert has overseen two wins, three draws and four defeats, with the Saints’ promotion hopes hanging on by a thread.

Southampton had won four from five games during the 33-year-old’s time as interim head coach after Will Still’s sacking, but their form has nosedived since the victory against West Brom on 9 December.

Tonda Eckert is losing the Southampton fans

When asked if a loss to Sheffield United midweek could lead to Eckert’s sacking, FLW’s Southampton fan pundit Martin Sanders claimed that a defeat would leave everybody on edge due to the trip to Fratton Park at the weekend.

He believes that the fans have started to turn on the head coach, and it will be difficult for him to come back from another bad result when they play on Wednesday night.

“I think the fans turned a bit at the weekend, to be fair,” Sanders told Football League World.

“When Eckert brought off Tom Fellows, who was playing at right-wing for the first time, really, under his term as the head coach.

“Fellows is playing at right-wing, we’re 2-0 down, chasing the game and we brought Ross Stewart on, the target man and Fellows is one of the best crossers of the ball, and the fans were singing ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’.

“I think defeat against Sheffield United will leave everybody feeling very, very on edge going into the south coast derby, and I think you’ll find a lot of fans are losing faith at the moment, pretty quickly.”

Southampton are 15th in the Championship table following this most recent defeat to Hull, with the gap to the play-offs now being 10 points.

The Saints were hoping to earn a place back in the Premier League at the first attempt this season, but that is now a monumental task, with 19 games remaining.

Next up for Eckert’s side is a home clash against Sheffield United on 21 January in a 7.45pm kick-off.

However, following that is a clash away to bitter rivals Portsmouth on 25 January, making this a crucial week for the head coach.

Tonda Eckert appointment has proven a massive mistake

Southampton were swept up by the strong start Eckert made to management, winning his first four games.

However, the Saints had under-performed under Still, and those results simply represented a move back to the mean.

Since then, he has been unable to input anything positive into the team’s tactical setup, and it’s clear that he is now out of his depth.

The club were hoping to avoid having to go through a thorough process of hiring a proper replacement for Still, and that now looks to have backfired spectacularly.