Russell Martin has labelled Southampton's defensive mistakes against Aston Villa as "madness". He was also critical of his side's ability to convert opportunities.
Well, it's been a long time coming, but Russell Martin has finally been overtly critical of his Southampton side to the media. He has highlighted the exact elements which the Saints are failing to address and the key reasons why they cannot put points on the board.
In truth, Russell Martin was visibly dejected on the Villa Park sideline. In a game which was there for the taking at times, he was frustrated to watch Southampton fail to make many chances. Not only this, but of the minimal chances Southampton had, they were not clinical enough at all.
Speaking after the match, Southampton boss Russell Martin was not happy at all. He criticised both Southampton's defensive mistakes and then, criticised the attackers for failing to be clinical.
In his own words (via The Athletic), Martin said: “Another mistake and not a shot on target is madness... We had more final third entries than [Villa] today, so we should be able to create more of what we have."
It is definitely true that Southampton's performance was "madness" personified. However, Southampton fans were truly not shocked at all. It is not the first time the Saints gifted chances to the opposition while not making many for themselves, after all.
It is almost like this season, Southampton begin the match with at least one goal deficit. This is not a physical disadvantage but more of a psychological one, since the current defenders and goalkeeper are not able to play out from the back.
Of course, the defensive third is not the only third where Southampton are struggling. They are not able to provide any goals to at least paper over their own defensive cracks.
Martin then compared Villa's front line to the lack of consistency shown by Tyler Dibling: "Their front guys make a big difference to them in and around the box. We really haven’t got that, apart from Tyler (Dibling), someone who can really change something in an instant, and he is 18 and his end product at the minute, is inconsistent, which you’d expect.”
Hopefully, this means a lightbulb has appeared over the head of Russell Martin. More signings need to be made in the January transfer window to improve the squad, by any means necessary.
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