Southampton win again with little chance of being at their best

In following the words of the Dutchman, whose inspiration for ‘Total Football’ laid down foundations for managers like Russell Martin 50 years ago, Saints are going well. 

They have scored one goal more than the opponent in each of their three victories this season.

They have all been 2-1 wins and each of them has followed the same sequence of scoring. An end-to-end 4-4 draw with Norwich City was the exception. 

Saints have picked up 10 points from 12 available in a month that has seen starters James Ward-Prowse, Romeo Lavia, Tino Livramento and Mohammed Salisu sold. 

Martin, two months into the job, is a class act. He is working under conditions unique to him and he has made that clear while crediting the leadership group for clarity.

This week, two-thirds of his attack - the tried and tested two-thirds – was ripped from the tactics board within days of Saturday’s fixture versus QPR.

Nathan Tella flew to Germany to finalise a transfer and Che Adams was deemed not proper to play by the boss. The former was no surprise but a decision was made on Adams within 48 hours of the game.

On the face of it, in return for all of the mentioned departures, Martin has been given a talented 19 year old Man City product, a free agent, a backup goalkeeper and now three Premier League loans. 

As Martin asserted after the game, the club are going to reinvest some money recouped from here on – including from Tella’s £20million fee - but there was a hole over £140million burned from last season’s dealings. 

The drop in Premier League revenue also had to be accounted for and has been, despite a lot of the money received paying off sell-on clauses or coming via later instalments.  

Martin still had to find a way to win and to make matters worse, just 25 minutes into the match at St Mary’s - where Saints had won only three times in over 12 months - his newly elected captain, Jack Stephens, suffered a potentially serious injury. 

The manager admitted he still feels the players have a bit of tension within them at home, because of the disappointment of last season – something he is looking to shift.

“I’m not pleased with how many moments QPR had and I’m not pleased with the response to scoring again, we’ll have to deal with that,” he told the Daily Echo.

“If you stay 1-0 up, they’re defending with so many numbers but should have to open up a little bit. We’ll learn from playing against that shape for the first time.

“In the end, the mentality wins us the game because they stuck to the detail, but the mentality after scoring is not right. We will eradicate that hopefully. Well, we will.”

Martin’s changes altered the momentum of the match. Gavin Bazunu had bailed Saints out on occasions before and after the restart, while Paul Smyth smashed the crossbar.

At half-time, he called for a double-up on the powerful Sinclair Armstrong and Jan Bednarek deserves credit for the forward's eventual management. 

After 55 minutes, Martin introduced new signing Ryan Fraser – who immediately lifted the atmosphere – and Sekou Mara, who was improved on his recent outings.

His decision to put youngster Shea Charles into centre-back and use Flynn Downes to replace Stephens was also vindicated by their performances – a returning Armel Bella-Kotchap was another option readied.

“So much change again, so much to deal with and so much going on – the mentality of the group is brilliant to persevere and keep going,” Martin added.

“The first half was nowhere near good enough, especially after the work we had done during the week – it’s a bit of a message to the lads that they need to trust the work.

“It’s really important we win while we’re still building and we’ve done that. I’m not sure many teams will have had to deal with the noise and change we have had.

“I did expect it, I’m not naïve, but it has probably been way more than I did expect so it has probably opened my eyes a little bit.”

The rejuvenated Adam Armstrong’s fourth of the season, scored from a combination of Martin signings Fraser and Ryan Manning down the left, was just about enough.

It also meant that Sam Edozie’s first in a Saints shirt, on his 28th appearance for the club, was not insignificant.  

Edozie, speaking to the Daily Echo after the match, insisted: “Any game that we win is a positive and we got the three points.

“There are things we could have improved on but the win was the most important thing. We don’t really read too much into what’s going on off the pitch. 

“We focus on the games that are coming and just train hard. It’s a big relief, though. The manager told us before the game to just get the first home win and we did.”

Despite all the disruption, Martin’s philosophy was plain to see again. They kept 74 per cent of the ball and completed 727 passes (at 92 per cent success rate) to QPR’s 190.

Downes, not even starting after an illness in the last week, led the match in this regard with a remarkable 116 out of 117 attempted passes completed.

QPR’s expected goals (0.64) did outweigh Southampton’s (0.42) and it was made clear a replacement for Tella is needed – and Adams too, if he becomes another lost option.

However, QPR boss Gareth Ainsworth still views his opponent as a Premier League team and discussed readying for the challenge with the Daily Echo.

“We don’t prepare too differently because we have our own identity and we want to try and impose that on a team as well,” he insisted.

“However, you have to respect the players on the pitch and they’re selling a couple as well that would have made them even stronger.

“You can’t go wholesale changes but you have to make tweaks and you have to let Southampton have a little bit of the ball. They are going to dominate it for so long.”

Despite Ainsworth’s assertion, Saints are not a Premier League club and their demise last season was well deserved.

Southampton and Martin are hoping, however, that, this time next year, the former Wycombe Wanderers man will prove to be right.

August has shown there is work still to be done. St Mary’s – flat, for the most part, despite being a sold-out crowd - reflected some of the external nerves.

Winning every week with very little chance of being at your best, though, is a credit to Martin, his staff and the players still committed to the cause.