Southampton manager Russell Martin has said that his side ‘don’t deal with disappointment very well’ after their 0-1 defeat at home to Ipswich Town.
Saints lost their third game in a row on Tuesday night after a defensive calamity when playing out the back lead to Omari Hutchinson slotting the ball into the bottom right corner to lift the Tractor Boys to second.
Martin praised Ipswich but thought his side were still in it for the whole game.
“There wasn’t much in it and the lads gave everything,” Martin told BBC Radio Solent.
“Both teams were well organised but they [Ipswich] came and got their goal and defended really well after.”
Southampton have now conceded the most goals in the Championship this season, conceding 17 goals in seven games. Martin has previously aired his concerns about the amount of goals being conceded after the 4-1 loss to Leicester on Friday night.
“We keep giving teams a one goal head start at the moment and it makes it so difficult,” Martin added.
Russell Martin still happy with effort
Martin went on to say that his side are still trying and the effort is there, but they struggle to handle the disappointment of losing.
“It’s not for lack of trying we just don’t deal with disappointment very well,” the 37-year-old said.
“As a group there is still so much scar tissue from last season here at St Mary’s and unfortunately our season is being defined at the moment by how we respond to disappointment.
“In those moments our players need to be braver than ever and the only way to do that is to live and learn from those moments.
“I said to the guys ‘if we are going to lose we are going to lose our way’ being really brave and really aggressive.
“But after we conceded tonight we didn’t show that for 15 to 20 minutes, we had a big wobble.
“I understand it after the scar tissue from last season and getting relegated.
“It’s a tough one to analyse because there is a lot of feeling involved at the moment, but I think tonight was a fair result.
“So we now need to work very hard on the detail and the mentality and togetherness of the group before we go to Middlesbrough on Saturday.
“That’s the only choice we have, you either sink or swim, and that is football.”