Frankly Speaking: Russell Martin Challenges Doubters of Southampton FC

Southampton boss Russell Martin has made the claim that form prior to the play-offs isn’t that important, after his team’s third consecutive loss.

The Saints’ current poor run of form started with a surprise 2-1 loss at home to Cardiff City, in which a last minute goal from Cian Ashford gave the Bluebirds all three points and put a massive dent in Southampton’s automatic promotion hopes.

Next up was the Hampshire outfit’s most important game of the season: Leicester City (A). A win for the home side meant that they could put one hand on the promotion trophy, whereas three points for the visitors would keep them within the conversation for the top two spots.

What ended up happening was a 5-0 drubbing which led Martin to chastise his players after the match for their embarrassing second half collapse, which essentially confirmed that they would be in the play-offs and not the top two.

Saturday was a continuation of the Saints’ downward trajectory, as they failed to pick up points for the third game running.

Tyrese Campbell’s goal, which was the only goal of the game, not only confirmed Stoke City’s safety, but it officially confirmed that Southampton would finish fourth in the Championship for the 2023/24 campaign.

So things aren’t going well at St Mary’s, and they need to make sure that they are right for when the play-offs roll around, but their Scottish boss isn’t putting too much importance on being in good form heading into the post-season.

Russell Martin downplays pre-play-off form importance

After the home loss on Saturday, Martin revealed his thoughts on what it means to be on a good run heading into the play-offs.

He said, via the Daily Echo: “I’m not sure how relevant it is. People talk about momentum and all that stuff. Honestly, I’ve been involved in it as a player, it’s different.

“It’s a two-game cup competition and then, to get to Wembley, that’s a complete one-off tie.

“Of course you want to go into the playoffs with a nice feeling, but I think ultimately it’s about who is the bravest team on the day.

“It’s about who has such a clear game plan and will stick to that and has done their work. That’s what it will come down to.

“Momentum will not be completely separate. I really believe that teams who finish third or fourth and overcome that disappointment will end up winning it most years.

“When it comes down to that first and second playoff game, it’s about who can hold their nerve the best and who can stick to what they’ve done all season.

“It’s about who can handle the occasion. That’s not about what’s gone on previously, so yeah, it’s going to be exciting.”

Russell Martin has a final day dilemma on his hands

Since they can’t move up or down in the table on the final day of the season, there will be two things on Southampton’s mind.

Firstly, two important stats. Number one: 80% of Championship play-off winners, over the last decade, have been won by either the team that finished third or the team that finished fourth. That’s pretty encouraging for the Saints.

What isn’t so encouraging is that, over the same time period, only Huddersfield Town, in the 2016/17 season, have won the play-offs having lost three of their final four games in the regular season.

Southampton don’t want to be the ones to buck that latter trend, and they certainly won’t want to have to achieve something that no other team has in the past 10 years and win the play-offs having not picked up a single point in their last four games.

To avoid said pressure, they need to get a result against Leeds United on the final day of the season, and they should have a lot of motivation for this game.

Not only will it be good for them to get a big result against a team that they could face in the play-offs, but even a draw could help spoil Leeds’ day at Elland Road by denying them automatic promotion, if Ipswich Town do their job properly.

To do this, they will likely have to play a team which is close to full strength, even though the game has no bearing on their final league position. This, of course, runs the risk of injury for their main players.

So what will Martin do? Will he play a strong team to try and gain a bit of momentum and stop Leeds in their tracks, at the risk of damaging his players? Or will he lay down for Daniel Farke’s side, accept their fate in fourth, and take a selfish, risk-free approach?

It remains to be seen, but either choice could have some interesting consequences.