EFL pundit issues bold claim on Russell Martin's Southampton future | OneFootball

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EFL pundit Adrian Clarke does not believe Southampton will be promoted to the Premier League under manager Russell Martin and has predicted he will be sacked before 2023/24 is up.

The Saints enjoyed an excellent start to the season, picking up 10 points from their first four games, but they have now suffered back-to-back defeats, conceding nine goals in their last two matches.

Southampton were beaten 5-0 at Sunderland before the international break and they endured another comprehensive defeat in the 4-1 loss against Leicester City at St Mary's on Friday night.

Early goals from Jamie Vardy and Kasey McAteer put the Foxes firmly in control after 18 minutes and although Samuel Edozie pulled one back for the Saints, Wilfred Ndidi restored the visitors' two-goal advantage before halftime.

Stephy Mavididi added a fourth for Leicester in the 67th minute with an outstanding individual effort and the hosts' misery was compounded when Kamaldeen Sulemana was sent off deep into stoppage time for a tackle on James Justin.

After the game, Martin insisted he will tighten his side up defensively and admitted there will be mistakes as he implements his style of play.

"We started the game really poorly. One team was clinical when they won the ball and one team was not, and we were punished for that," Martin told the BBC.

"I'm not going to blame the players. I am proud of them tonight.

"If anyone thought it would be painless trying to get to where we want to get to, that is naïve.

"We will sort it out and we won't keep conceding this many goals. We will find more balance than we had tonight."

Adrian Clarke's bold Russell Martin, Southampton claim

Clarke believes that Martin is not the right man to lead Southampton back to the Premier League and predicted the 37-year-old will not be in charge at St Mary's by the end of the season.

"I don't think they'll get promoted under Russell Martin," Clarke said on the What the EFL?! podcast.

"I know that's a big statement to make, but I just don't think they will because Russell is all about what they do with the ball and not enough about the structure when they don't.

"It's hampered him in previous jobs and you can't leave yourself that open.

"I think you've got to change it, I think you've got to be more pragmatic until your players are comfortable doing the things that you're asking them to do. "I think he's getting them to run before they can walk a little bit, I think it has to be incremental, step-by-step and once they get better at all of the patterns of play that he's asking them to do, then you can maybe take a few more chances. "They are gifting too many goals to opposition teams and everyone's going to look at that now. "I'm sure Leicester looked at what Sunderland did to them and they made them pay, other sides will look to mimic that for sure.

Is Russell Martin the right man for Southampton?

While recent results have undoubtedly been concerning, it still feels too early to be questioning Martin.

Martin can be accused of placing too much emphasis on the style of play and his possession-based game is incredibly risky, but he is a manager with a lot of potential and if the players buy into his ideas, he can bring success to the club.

There is a lot of pressure on Martin at St Mary's this season and he will be under much more scrutiny than he has been at his previous clubs, but as he said himself, there will inevitably be a few issues as the players adapt to his style and he needs to be given time to implement his ideas.

Clarke's comments are understandable and the jury is out on whether Martin is the man to guide the Saints back to the Premier League, but with a talented squad, they should be up there at the end of the campaign.