Russell Martin slammed for baffling Southampton weakness in Aston Villa loss
Russell Martin’s insistence on making his Southampton side play out from the back despite it constantly putting them under pressure at Aston Villa was slammed by a baffled Tim Sherwood.
Bottom side Saints lost 1-0 to Unai Emery’s side thanks to Jhon Duran’s goal in the 24th minute but former Villans boss Sherwood was left tearing his hair out at repeat problems at the back as Joe Lumley was instructed to pass short.
While the Sky Sports pundit praised some of the early play he could not understand why Martin would risk undercutting it in defence at all times.
Sherwood said live on Soccer Saturday (3.07pm): “About a minute ago there Lumley, the Southampton goalkeeper, had the ball, he rolled it out to Flynn Downes, he rolls it across to [Taylor] Harwood-Bellis. They made five passes, it went back to Flynn Downes and he kicked it out for a corner, so they had to defend the corner.
“This makes no sense to me whatsoever. But they will continue doing it because that’s the way Russell wants to play… every game I watch Southampton play I feel like they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot.
Still exasperated, he later added moments before the winner (3.24pm): “Lumley’s got the ball, I mean they’ve played so well, Southampton, they’ve had a lot of possession in Villa’s half.
“But it goes back to Lumley, he plays a straight ball in. [Boubacar] Kamara nicks the ball, they’re winning it eight yards out, it falls to [John] McGinn in the end and they manage to defend it and charge it down.
“I can’t understand why they’re doing it. They’ve played so well in this game but they should be behind.”
He then slammed Lumley and James Bree for their part in making a mess of defending the only goal of the game from Duran.
Even the positive elements had worn off once there had yet to be a shot on target well into the second half, when Sherwood said (4.31pm): “They don’t have enough possession, they don’t pass the ball forward enough in my opinion, they’ve got inferior players at this level.”
Jhon Duran keeps Southampton rooted to foot of Premier League
Football Insider opinion
Martin is far from the only manager who is steadfast in their insistence on such a style of play, despite it appearing for all the world to be causing his side more problems than benefits.
Enzo Maresca has Robert Sanchez do the same and seemingly gets caught out semi-regularly, but the Blues are flying high near the top of the table under the former Leicester boss.
At Stamford Bridge they can arguably make up for it elsewhere with a star-studded squad filled with expensive signings.
Yet Martin, however noble his intentions are, and however unfortunate he may have been at times, does not have that and seems to be instead stubbornly working his way towards the sack as a total of five points two games into December is obvious relegation form.
Whether he is right not to compromise his principles, and whether it would be right to dispense with him if he doesn’t, are debates that can be held throughout the fanbase.
But in reality it is looking increasingly inevitable that one is going to lead to the other, since this Saints side have now had long enough to prove that it isn’t working with them.
In other news, one of Martin’s top men is wanted by a series of big clubs.
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