It is unlikely that too many Southampton players will be full of confidence after Russell Martin’s side have started the season with three Premier League defeats.
Any doubts the Southampton players may have had about their ability to compete in the Premier League will only have been exemplified by the poor start to the campaign.
It is Russell Martin‘s job to restore that confidence whilst finding a way to make his Southampton team both more solid defensively and far more dangerous in attack.
So far, the Saints have scored just one league goal this season and that came in the 95th-minute against Brentford as right-back Yukinari Sugawara netted a consolation in a 3-1 defeat.
This tells a story of a misfiring attack and any hopes that the international break could represent an opportunity to regain some confidence were emphatically dashed for one forward in Ben Brereton Diaz on Tuesday.
Southampton striker Ben Brereton Diaz withdrawn in first-half for Chile for performance reasons
Southampton paid Villarreal £7 million to sign striker Ben Brereton Diaz this summer after he impressed on loan at a poor Sheffield United side in the second half of last season.
Having scored six goals in 14 Premier League games at the Blades, Martin felt Brereton Diaz was the right man to bring some firepower to Southampton but as yet that has not materialised.
The 25-year-old is yet to score since arriving on the south coast and could now find his place in the starting XI under threat ahead of Manchester United.
Unfortunately, Brereton Diaz may well return from international duty with Chile even less confident than when he left Southampton after being substituted in the 35th-minute in his country’s 2-1 2026 World Cup qualifying defeat against Bolivia.
The striker did not appear to be injured, with it now emerging that the decision to withdraw Brereton Diaz in the first-half was performance-related.
Chile manager criticised for brutal decision to substitute Southampton’s Brereton Diaz before half-time
It is almost an unwritten rule in football management that you do not substitute a player before half-time no matter how badly they are playing.
For the player being withdrawn it is humiliating and has the potential to shatter any confidence that they may have.
With Brereton Diaz you would imagine this was fairly low already given Southampton’s start to the season and Chile manager Ricardo Gareca has been blasted for the decision to substitute the Saints forward after just 35 minutes.
Chilean journalist Rodrigo Herrerra did not hold back in his criticism of Gareca who oversaw what is already considered one of the worst defeats in Chile’s history given it was at home to lowly Bolivia.
Herrerra was particularly displeased with the treatment of Brereton Diaz, telling BolaVIP: “He killed him [Brereton Diaz]. I don’t understand, as much as he likes the scheme, as much as he considers it at best dispensable for whatever factor, I didn’t see either that the team improved so much with Pizarro’s entry.
“That he did show attitude, but killing a player of that calibre, the only striker, the only ‘9’ we had in the Premier League, wait until 45 minutes.”
Herrerra added: “That’s why I tell you that the signals he sends, because the players read this, then the players are reading that Gareca is in despair.
“Today was a game where there was no tomorrow. Well, there is definitely no tomorrow.”
Martin will know he will need to try and pick Brereton Diaz up off the floor and it may be wise for the Saints boss to show his summer signing some love upon his return to Southampton.