Southampton should take Russell Martin warning from Burnley FC and Vincent Kompany | OneFootball

Southampton should be keen not to make the same mistakes Burnley made in the Premier League last season

If there was ever a blueprint for a newly-promoted team not to follow in the Premier League, then Burnley showcased it last season, as a limp effort to beat the drop saw them make an instant return to the Championship.

Vincent Kompany's side romped to the Championship title in 2022/23, destroying almost everyone in their path, but when they got to the Premier League, they soon realised things wouldn't be quite as simple.

The Clarets had been warned by lots of fans and pundits alike that their brand of football wasn't transferrable into the top-flight, and while Kompany didn't pay any attention to that outside noise, they found out the hard way that the outsiders were right all along.

Even amid such struggles last term, Chairman Alan Pace resisted calls to pull the trigger on Kompany, and that could be deemed to have been a fatal call as a change in manager could well have saved the Clarets.

Southampton find themselves in a much similar position currently, languishing at the bottom of the Premier League with Russell Martin at the helm and playing a similar brand of football to that of Burnley's.

They'd be wise to learn from the mistakes Burnley made last season, but so far, it doesn't look like they have.

Vincent Kompany and Russell Martin's brand of football is difficult to implement in the Premier League

While free-flowing football is possible in the Championship when you have a squad full of the best players at that level, transferring that style into the top-flight becomes nigh-on impossible when your squad then becomes inferior in the league above.

Playing out from the back against superior opposition, who set smart pressing traps and punish mistakes more frequently, largely won't work, but the coaching philosophy of these two managers doesn't allow for a plan B.

Both managers will live and die by the sword and are unrelenting in their quest to play football the 'right way'.

But ultimately, that was to the detriment of Burnley last season, and will be to Southampton this season if they continue to play the way they are doing.

The Saints have already made 10 errors leading to goals this term, and while not all of them can necessarily be attributed to playing out from the back, most of them come back their tendency to overplay in the wrong areas.

Russell Martin's total football approach could be attractive to bigger clubs

Burnley found out the hard way over the summer that loyalty in football gets you nowhere, when Kompany jumped ship to join Bayern Munich after relegation.

While it's hard to see Martin staking his claim for a big job after the season Southampton have had so far, Burnley said the same thing last year and were completely wide of the mark.

Regardless of how bad Martin's record looks this season, the fact remains that his brand of football is attractive when he's in charge of a group of players who are among the best in that certain league.

That's an example Kompany has set at Bayern, and Enzo Marseca has also set at Chelsea, both of whom managed Championship-winning sides, so Southampton must be slightly fearful that another such club could follow the trend.

There's another lesson to be learned from Burnley in the fact they didn't sack their manager, and that ultimately proved a fatal decision, so Southampton could well be tempted to twist where Burnley stuck.