Southampton: Russell Martin decision v Hull City suggests he's feeling the pressure - View | OneFootball

Highlights

Southampton suffered their second league defeat in three games this week against Hull City, and an in-game decision by manager Russell Martin suggests he may be feeling the pressure.

Losing by a one-goal margin to a fellow play-off rival, who also happen to be one of the most in-form teams in the league, is no embarrassment, but the seeming complete reversal of the initial game plan by Martin at the halfway point, at 0-2, could suggest an element of panic is setting in.

The Saints currently sit in fourth place, just two points shy of Leeds United, who have climbed up to second place.

With themselves, Leeds and Ipswich Town all within a small margin of each other, behind Leicester City sailing out in first, and all battling for the same automatic promotion place, it is easy to see how the start of the final run-in could begin to impact a manager, but knee-jerk reactions will do nothing to assist consistency.

Triple change showed shrinking confidence at Southampton

It was something of a retro battle at St Mary's Stadium on Tuesday as 4-4-2 met 4-4-2, but with just over half an hour gone in the game, it was the visitors that led by two goals.

In that first half, despite sharing the possession almost equally, the Tigers had fired 11 attempts at goal compared to the Saints' three, displaying the fact that not only were the lower ranked side displaying confidence, but were also finding easier routes to goal with their possession.

It's a midpoint scoreline that may provoke some reflection, and potentially a grilling of the squad fielded, but it is still a game that Southampton were very much in.

Despite that, Martin enacted a triple switch as his side came back out for the second half, removing Joe Rothwell, Sekou Mara and Adam Armstrong for Joe Aribo, Che Adams and David Brooks.

Just over 10 minutes later, the manager made a further amendment, bringing Ryan Fraser on for Samuel Edozie.

In the end, Martin had changed almost his entire midfield and one half of his frontline before the hour mark had been reached.

One player getting hooked at the interval usually suggests injury or a poor performance. Wholesale changes like this usually suggest that it is the manager who has got it wrong, and perhaps feeling the weight of expectation considering the game was still relatively tight.

To his credit, Martin's changes did change the game in his side's favour, retaining 64% possession and with 12 goal attempts, one successful, doubled the second half haul of the visitors.

However, the fact that changes on that scale were needed displays a lack of faith in his original plan, and a sign perhaps that the nerves got the better of him at some point in his decision-making process.

Martin noticed his self-inflicted errors

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent after the game, it appeared that Martin had recognised the fact that his initial plan from the start hadn't quite worked.

"In the first half we went with a gameplan, which I felt we learned from the first game against them and had a lot of success in the second half, so that's on me."

Further post-match quotes from the Saints boss, published by the Southern Daily Echo, suggest that he will be reflecting on the way he set his team up.

Asked whether he would go back and change the starting XI given the chance, he said: "I just spoke about it with the coaching staff in there and I will watch the game back tomorrow so I will have a more educated opinion on that.

"Joe Aribo, looking back now - would I play him from the start? Yes. But we knew he wouldn’t last the whole game as he’s been away for a while.

"Hindsight is a beautiful thing isn’t it?"

He did say that he trusts anyone that he puts out on the field to do their job, but, as his mid-game decisions suggest, he will likely take some of the responsibility for the result himself.

Southampton are well in the promotion race, but must keep their heads

Until their defeat away at Bristol City last week, the Saints were on an unbeaten run in the league that stretched back to September last year.

However, they're now looking at a scenario that sees them with two losses in their last three games, both defeats coming within a week of each other.

Luckily, a 2-0 victory away at West Brom is sandwiched between the two, so it prevents the feeling that the Saints are heading down a slippery slope.

With just two points separating themselves and Leeds, and having shown what the squad is capable of on their long unbeaten run, promotion is well within the grasp of Martin's side.

To get there, the whole squad, including Martin, must show full faith in their collective plan. Sticking to it should take away some of the pressure of promotion that is currently showing, and give them the best chance of gaining re-entry into the Premier League.