Former USA international Alexi Lalas has backed Jesse Marsch to take the Southampton job and keep the Saints in the Premier League after he was sacked by Leeds United last week.
Southampton have been heavily linked with the American, just days after he was relieved of his duties at Elland Road, having sacked their own manager Nathan Jones after just 14 matches in charge.
Marsch spent just under a year at Leeds before he was shown the door following an awful stretch which saw them take just two wins in his last 17 matches with the club.
But Lalas believes that his compatriot could get payback on the Whites for letting him go by getting the Saints away from relegation at Leeds' expense at the end of the season.
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"Can you imagine if this actually comes to fruition, and Southampton were to hire Jesse March," Lalas said on the latest episode of his State of the Union podcast. "Keep in mind that Southampton's in last place right now.
"And if he were to take them on a run and at the end, pip Leeds for staying up and then Leeds went down, can you imagine the chef's kiss moment for Jesse Marsch?
"In reading this articles there seems to have been an appreciation, a long distance appreciation. Maybe a romance when it comes to how Southampton has looked at Jesse Marsch.
"But what's confusing to me is what are they looking at him for? Because it's not as if he has this history of coming in and saving teams. Notwithstanding what he did last year with Leeds, but this isn't a break glass in case of emergency type of coach."
Lalas also believes that Southampton's executives would favour a long-term move after the sacking of Jones, especially if they are considering bringing in Marsch.
"So is this a much more long-term type of approach even with the understanding that if that doesn't happen, and they go down, this is the guy who they want at the helm to lead them through the next year in the Championship and bring them back up, because they believe in him so much and it's just fallen in their lap at this at this time.
"I don't know. Again, if this happens, I will be very, very surprised. But good for Jesse Marsch that this is even in the news right now. And if it ultimately happens, they got themselves a good coach who's going to be incredibly motivated here down the stretch, but it might be a bridge too far to figure out a way to keep them from going down."
With the USMNT side now without a manager following Gregg Berhalter's very public departure, Lalas claims that Marsch might just be holding out for that role instead.
"It depends. I mean, we've talked about the US Men's National Team. If there are talks going on behind the scenes, and I don't know why there would be [any] because there's still nobody working at the Federation that is supposed to be making these decisions.
"But if [Marsch] has the inkling that he is high on the candidate list for the US Men's National Team then maybe he holds off.
"Or maybe he says 'Look, this is just a temporary type of thing. Give me the controls here. Let me see what I can do down the stretch. Maybe I can fire up some magic like you saw with Leeds last year. And I can save you. I can at least make a run here and then in the summer we'll talk.' Maybe."
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