There was plenty of optimism amongst Southampton supporters going into their league game at Brentford on Saturday after a successful Transfer Deadline Day.
Russell Martin welcomed a trio of new arrivals on the final day of the transfer window, with Southampton signing Aaron Ramsdale, Ryan Fraser and Maxwel Cornet.
Ramsdale went straight into the starting XI to give Southampton another huge boost ahead of kick-off, but it was not enough as a third defeat from three Premier League games left Martin’s side 19th in the table and without a point.
They did at least score their first goal of the season through a late Yukinari Sugawara strike but it was merely a consolation to the goals scored by Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa in the 3-1 defeat.
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It has been a steep learning curve for Southampton in the Premier League so far, with plenty of former players and pundits quick to jump on the style Martin favours.
Jamie O’Hara claims Southampton already relegated playing Russell Martin style
Martin is a manager who will live and die by his principles and his chosen style is a very possession-dominant one that focuses on building through the thirds.
This, inevitably, can lead to mistakes and when these are made in the defensive third these can be very costly.
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This is certainly the case in the Premier League, where the ruthlessness of opponents when winning the ball in the final third is far greater than in the Championship.
That is something Southampton have learned the hard way having lost 1-0 to Newcastle United on the opening day due to Alex McCarthy passing straight to a Magpies forward and then seeing Brentford constantly finding joy by pressing high in their 3-1 win on Saturday.
It is a style that divides fans despite promotion last season and TalkSPORT pundit Jamie O’Hara made his feelings on Southampton’s tactics abundantly clear during the game.
Former Portsmouth midfielder O’Hara claimed the Saints are effectively already relegated playing this way, as he posted on X: “Southampton are pathetic the football they’re trying to play at the back isn’t necessary, they’re not good enough to do it, not even Real Madrid would play them stupid passes it’s mental, they’re gone.”
Martin must use international break to tweak Southampton tactics
Martin is not going to suddenly give up on his philosophy, we know that.
Nor should he, as it is playing this way that has taken him from MK Dons to the Premier League in five years as a manager.
However, he now has a fortnight to work with his players before they welcome Manchester United to St Mary’s thanks to the international break.
He must use this time to make tweaks to the way he is asking his Southampton side to play or risk continuing to lose games because of their own mistakes on the ball.
In their next seven league games, the Saints face Ipswich Town, Bournemouth, Leicester City and Everton – all games they should be targeting points from – so Martin needs to get things right to give his side a chance of moving up the table.