Southampton boss Russell Martin makes frank admission on Liverpool tie | OneFootball

Southampton boss Russell Martin has admitted that his side could have benefitted from not playing Liverpool on Wednesday evening, making this admission to the Daily Echo.

The Saints had been on a brilliant unbeaten run until recently, but have lost three of their last four league matches.

Losing away at Bristol City, they have then gone on to lose against Hull City and Millwall at home, despite recently securing a brilliant away victory at West Bromwich Albion.

These defeats have been a setback for them in their quest to secure automatic promotion, with the Saints previously in the top two but being overtaken by Leeds United and Ipswich Town.

The Whites are in particularly good form at this stage, winning all of their league games in 2024 so far and continuing that run with a victory over league leaders Leicester City on Friday.

That will have only helped to boost their confidence and at the moment, Daniel Farke's side look to be the favourites to secure an automatic promotion spot along with the Foxes, despite the latter's recent wobble.

That could mean that the Saints will have to settle for a place in the play-offs, something that would disappoint them considering they brought in some top-quality players in the summer to try and help them seal a top-two finish.

Promotion is still achievable if they finish in the play-offs, but anything can happen during these games and it will put Martin's side at risk of not managing to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

The Saints' boss was brutally honest when asked about the FA Cup game at Anfield on Wednesday.

He told the Daily Echo: "We could do without that right now if I’m being honest. But, we will have 5,000 supporters going there who have been amazing on the road this season.

"We need to make sure we go there and give a good account of ourselves and make it worthwhile for those people. We have worked very hard to get there. We need to make sure it is a good night for us as a club and a group.

"It is also a chance to take out some frustration from the last couple of games or the last couple of weeks."

Southampton need to treat the Liverpool game as an opportunity

The Saints' boss is viewing this game as an opportunity and his comments show that.

However, he has also looked at this game negatively.

His honesty is nothing short of refreshing. But if Martin isn't fully looking forward to this game, then the Saints shouldn't be in the FA Cup.

They must go into this game with positive energy and looking to cause an upset - because the Reds could drop their standards following such a great EFL Cup win on Sunday.

Some fringe players including James Bree (pictured above) could get an opportunity to show why they should be in the first 11.