Southampton's Edozie insists squad believe in Russell Martin

The St Mary’s side have been rocked by three consecutive Championship defeats after an unbeaten start to the season.

Heavy losses against Sunderland and Leicester City preceded Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat to Ipswich Town with Saints scoring just once across the three fixtures.

Martin has come under fire from some sets of expectant supporters after the club set out ambitions for automatic promotion at the start of the campaign.

However, speaking to the Daily Echo, Edozie insists the group are keeping faith with the work done ahead of Saturday’s clash at bottom-of-the-table Middlesbrough.

He told us: “It’s very important that we have got to stick to the process. The manager believes in us and we believe in him.

“We will keep playing how he wants us to play and hopefully it’s going to get us the result we need on the weekend.

 “Everyone makes mistakes. We are all human. It’s just about dealing with those mistakes and not losing your confidence after making a mistake.

“You have to keep going and keep trying again. Once we start minimising the mistakes then our performances will improve.”

Edozie added: “We won’t change how we play, just because we lost our last three games. We will play the same way with confidence.

“It doesn’t mean we are going to switch how we play. We will keep playing the same way we played from the start of the season and hopefully, we can get the results we need.”

Saints had made a fast start to the Championship season, scoring 10 goals in the first four matches as they recorded three wins and a draw.

Adam Armstrong, who has worn the captain’s armband since the injury of Jack Stephens, netted four and Che Adams scored three times from the substitute’s bench.

Neither have netted since, with Sam Edozie scoring two in two games at St Mary’s. Edozie, though, insists he is not concerned.

“Football is never straightforward. If in the last game, you’ve scored a certain amount of goals it doesn’t always mean you’re going to do that in the next game,” he admitted.

“Football is up and down. You’ve got to deal with the downs and be able to bounce back. That’s what we will look to do in the game this weekend.

“I think we had chances but unfortunately we couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. We are looking forward to the next game and hopefully, we can bounce back.”

It has been a positive start to the campaign personally for Edozie, who was out of the Saints squad for the entirety of Ruben Selles’s tenure amid Premier League relegation.

Martin has started the former Manchester City 20 year old in all seven league matches, although he is beginning to see his minutes managed.

Edozie was substituted at half-time against Leicester, despite scoring, for the return of Kamaldeen Sulemana, and he was the first change after 56 minutes on Tuesday.

Edozie explained: “I think you need that. It gets the most out of all the players because you know that your position is never solidified.

“When that happens you’re always going to keep working and giving 100 per cent because you know someone is ready to take your position.

“That competitive atmosphere amongst the team and amongst training is a big positive. You need that when you are going into games.”

He continued: “You know you need to go and perform, and if you perform well we get results.

“Everyone wants to perform well and having that pressure of knowing that someone can take your position gives you that extra bit to go out on the pitch and give your best.”