Southampton should brace themselves for their share of criticism upon their return to the Premier League season with pundits quick to write off Russell Martin’s style.
Southampton started the 2024/25 season with a tough away game at Newcastle United where they lost 1-0 despite playing against ten men for the majority of the match.
Fabian Schar was sent off in the 28th minute with the Austrian punished for overstepping the line during an altercation with Ben Brereton Diaz with the scores 0-0.
The boost this gave the Southampton players was soon dampened as Alex McCarthy gifted Newcastle a goal on the stroke of half-time as he misplaced a pass in his own box.
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Southampton huffed and puffed but failed to turn their 78% possession into a goal, meaning they started their Premier League return with defeat.
Russell Martin style sees Southampton written off by many
Despite defeat, Southampton played well and manager Russell Martin will take plenty of confidence from what he saw from his side at St James’ Park.
The Saints boss will have accepted that not everyone is going to agree with his possession-based philosophy, with Troy Deeney the latest pundit to claim that McCarthy’s error is part of a flaw of the style.
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Others have tipped Southampton for relegation, drawing comparisons to Vincent Kompany’s Burnley last season; Paul Merson also claiming they will struggle due to their playing style.
Martin will feel this perceived weakness is actually Southampton’s biggest strength as they have a clear identity and got joy playing through the Newcastle press even before the red card.
It does open the door for mistakes when building from the goalkeeper, but Martin will hope to reduce this danger by bringing in a goalkeeper who is better with his feet before the transfer window closes.
Nathan Wood hits back at Southampton style critics
Martin recently revealed that his brother sends him all the negative things written about him and his Southampton style to use as motivation.
The only thing that will matter to the 38-year-old is that his Saints players believe in what they are doing and it would seem Martin has the vehement backing of the squad.
Nathan Wood is clearly one such player having signed for Southampton this summer after working under Martin at Swansea City and the centre-back was on the bench against Newcastle on Saturday.
Wood was impressed with how his team-mates fared in the season-opener, telling the Daily Echo how Southampton are viewing this season as he said: “I’ve not looked at this season as a fight to stay up. That would obviously be amazing and we’d take it.
“But we have got enough quality and guidance to try and win as many games as possible. We will go from there.
“We aren’t looking at things as if we are in a fight from day one – the game at Newcastle proved that we can go toe to toe with quality teams.
“Yeah they had 10 men, but we have taken a lot of encouragement from the first half an hour where we played brilliantly.”
Having reflected on the game, Wood believes his new side should have beat Newcastle, saying: “I was on the bench and it felt like we had control of the game. When you watch things back, like we have done this week, you see things that make you think ‘We should have won that game.’
“It might not have felt like it on the day but when you simplify things and watch stuff back you find ways that we could have won it.”
The 22-year-old added that Southampton are not happy to just been seen as nice to watch, as he concluded: “We are not just in the Premier League to play well. At the end of the day you need results and that is what we are planning to get.”
Whilst after every defeat Martin’s tactics will be scrutinised, the Saints boss clearly feels it gives his side the best chance of being successful and will therefore not waver in his beliefs.