Southampton replicate St James' Park atmosphere to prepare for Newcastle Championship clash
Southampton manager Remi Allen says she is preparing her team to try and make atmosphere like "white noise"
Southampton are replicating the atmosphere of St James' Park in training to prepare for their Championship clash against Newcastle, says manager Remi Allen.
Southampton travel to Newcastle's home ground on Sunday in a huge match in England's second tier.
Newcastle have sold over 24,000 tickets for the fixture.
Southampton are taking the league 'a game at a time', says Allen
When FourFourTwo asked Allen how she is preparing her team, she said: "I think credit to Newcastle by the way for doing that [playing consistently at SJP], that is what every club should be pushing to do at their home stadium.
"We have got a couple of things that we are looking at to help maybe create that atmosphere and environment in training but I am not giving it all away because I don't want Newcastle to [read] this! There are things in the pipeline and things we are looking at to try prepare as much as we can. Hopefully then at the weekend, yes it is an atmosphere but it is almost white noise for them."
Allen's side are currently fourth on 14 points, though Newcastle share their point total and they are in seventh. Only six points separates top of the table Birmingham City and eighth Sunderland.
The league also only has 11 clubs and so one team every round does not play.
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The close nature of the league is an element Allen is really enjoying in just her second head coach appointment.
The 34-year-old retired from playing in May after a 16-year playing career where she competed for clubs like Leicester City, Reading and Aston Villa.
Allen had a spell as London City Lionesses head coach towards the end of last season but has developed her coaching over the past 15 years. She was appointed head coach of Southampton in the summer.
She added: "Where would you get a league where there are six or seven teams hoping to win the league? That is a hell of a lot of teams when you have only got 11 in the league.
"That makes every game crucial. Everyone is taking points off of everyone. So yeah it has been [madness]. It has been a little bit like what I expected, I [wouldn't have predicted] first to eighth right now would be that small a gap.
"It also makes it really exciting because you're one moment away from first and one moment away from eighth so it's crazy."
With the league hanging in the balance, Women's Super League promotion could be won by anyone with 12/13 games left of the season (the amount of games remaining per club is different depending on whether they have had their bye week yet).
Only one club gets promoted into the top flight and so does Allen have one eye on the prize?
"Listen anyone would be lying if they said it wasn't the most incredible feeling or thought process [to be promoted]," Allen added.
"To be honest I don't let myself think about it because you have to focus on the next game. One game at a time. If we are in and around it in a few months then it might be a different conversation but right now all my focus is on Newcastle at the weekend.
"We have got to pick up points. I did some work with the players at the start of the season about the bottom to the top of the podium. If you think too far ahead it is really overwhelming, it can really build an anxiety and we don't need that.
"What we do need to do is go one game at a time and build our way steadily. I am happy in the place we are in, I still want to put more points on the board and hopefully we can do that."
Southampton are selling half season tickets with adults £32 and under-18s £10. You can buy yours here.
Women's Championship fixtures this weekend
- Durham v London City Lionesses, 17 November, 12pm GMT
- Sheffield United v Sunderland, 17 November, 1pm GMT, available to watch on the league's YouTube
- Newcastle v Southampton, 17 November, 2pm GMT
- Charlton Athletic v Bristol City, 17 November, 2pm GMT
- Blackburn Rovers v Portsmouth, 17 November, 2pm GMT
Sarah joined the FourFourTwo team in September 2024 in a freelance role. She also writes for The Guardian, BBC and Rugby World where she specialises in women's football and rugby. Sarah has a bachelors degree in English and a master's in newspaper journalism.