Southampton have been questioned by Ian Wright over one key issue so far this season.
The Saints have got off to a very poor start in the 2024/25 Premier League campaign, with Southampton still yet to notch their first win of the season.
Russell Martin’s side have certainly struggled to hold onto leads, with this being characterised in the recent defeat against Leicester City, which saw a comfortable two-goal lead squandered at home.
In truth, the Saints have quite simply not been up to scratch in regards to defensive capabilities, barring Yuki Sugawara at right-back, whose likely absence this weekend will make the difficult task of facing Man City that much more difficult.
There is one specific side to Southampton’s defensive capabilities that have not shown any signs of improvement, and whilst there is an easy solution to the troubles, Martin has persevered with his current set-up, leading to questions arising from former England star Ian Wright.
Southampton boss Russell Martin questioned over set-pieces issue
The Saints have shipped 18 goals so far in the 2024/25 campaign, conceding the second most, with Wolves’ 23 conceded only beating them.
Many of these have resulted from set-pieces, and there is a clear ineptness when defending from free-kicks and corners as a result for Martin’s side, who at this moment do not have a set-piece coach.
Per The Overlap, Ian Wright spoke about Southampton’s defensive misfortunes, particularly from dead-ball situations, where he said: “Southampton don’t have one and look at what’s happened.
“If it’s good enough for Pep Guardiola to have one to close the margins then everyone should have one, and Southampton should bloody have one.”
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Southampton boss Russell Martin must be progressive and appoint set-piece coach
There is no doubt that the idea of Martin being reluctant to take the progressive approach of noticing the issues with set-pieces and appointing a coach to solve it is one of the many issues surrounding the team and the manager at this moment.
It is clear that a change must be made by the Saints boss after such a lacklustre start to the season, and if they don’t change it imminently, then the difference in set-pieces will almost certainly become blatantly obvious in the upcoming clash with Man City.
The Southampton boss is already supposedly on thin ice in regards to his job security, and looking at the fact that he and his side have accumulated just one point so far, you would think that he would sought to make changes imminently.