Southampton fired manager Russell Martin on Sunday evening, just over an hour after the team’s 5-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur extended their stay in bottom place in the Premier League.
“At the start of the season we knew all the challenges we would face this year as we readjusted to life in the elite, competing in the best and most competitive league in the world,” a club press release read in part. “However, the reality of our situation is clear. The board has supported Russell and his team and has been open and transparent about our expectations. We are all on the same page in recognizing the urgency of need results to improve.”
The Saints have been the punching bag of the Premier League since gaining promotion to the English top flight this season with just five points so far, winning just one of their 16 games and conceding 36 goals while failing to score. scoring just 11. Sunday’s loss to Spurs, however, was their biggest margin of defeat all season and forced some fans to leave St. Mary’s Stadium as early as the 25th minute, when Pope Matar Sarr scored to make it 4-0 for the visitors. That wasn’t the only sign of trouble on Sunday – Martin turned off Kamaldeen Sulemana in the 15th minute, shortly after Tottenham took a 3-0 lead through Dejan Kulusevski.
The writing was seemingly on the wall for Martin at the final whistle, despite the success he enjoyed last season with the team. Southampton finished fourth in the Championship before gaining promotion in the playoffs and were one of the best teams in the Second Division with 87 goals during the regular season.
Martin’s dedication to a style of play popularized by many of the sport’s best teams likely caused his downfall. While a possession-focused approach in which Southampton played out from the back worked in the Championship, the quality of their players compared to the rest of the Premier League was ultimately a recipe for disaster. Primarily, this led to a porous defense, but it also ensured that the Saints would be unable to replicate their high-scoring habits from last season.
The coach defended his approach in his pre-match comments on Friday, although he admitted their points total was “embarrassing”.
“I get criticized for the same thing (as Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou), about being stubborn and all that, but if you believe in something and it’s taken you to a certain path in life , so to deviate too much from it is crazy,” Martin said, according to the BBC. “I can’t speak for him but we also adapt. We adapt the form, the approach, the personnel, but with the same consistency on what is important for us, with the same concept of play. We cannot stray too far from that otherwise we become nothing, really, everyone is quick to criticize these days.”
Simon Rusk, the manager of Southampton’s U-21 team, will take over from Martin while the club searches for his permanent successor. Martin was the second manager of the day to be fired in the Premier League, joining that of Wolves. Gary O’Neil.
