Russell Martin, the manager of Southampton, was blunt when he called the mistakes costing his team “madness” after their 1-0 loss to Aston Villa. The pivotal moment came in the 24th minute when Jhon Duran took possession and coolly chipped the ball over Joe Lumley after Diego Carlos’ long pass caused a misunderstanding between Nathan Wood and Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
The Saints lost for the fourth time in five games, even if Nathan Wood’s heroics subsequently stopped goals from Ross Barkley and Ollie Watkins. Martin showed his frustration at his team giving up what he believes to be yet another goal that could have been prevented.
Martin said, “Another mistake and not a shot on target is madness really.” Although he praised the team’s performance, he called out their tendency.
“At some point when a team scores a really good goal and bit of individual quality you can maybe accept it, but the goals are just so poor.”
“It’s madness,” he added. The ambitions we give up are just so bad, and those tiny lines have injured us far too often. It was a fantastic effort.
“I love Taylor (Harwood-Bellis) and I don’t want to criticize him, but what happened can’t happen, so you either smooth the game out and pass or defend and clear it and we do neither,” Martin added in reference to Harwood-Bellis’ role in the mistake.
“We don’t have enough conviction or quality and decision-making in the final third at the moment,” Martin said in a frank assessment of Southampton’s performance.
“I don’t know what more I can give the players to make them believe or that extra spark,” he continued, expressing his worries about their confidence. “When you’re bottom of the league, there have been tough games recently, some quality opposition, tough results, it’s been interesting to say the least and difficult to deal with,” he said in reference to the team’s recent struggles and lowest league standing.
After Duran scored on his first Premier League start of the season, a jubilant Unai Emery lavished him with accolades. Emery said of the youngster, “Fantastic, he’s progressively helping us with everything, scoring goals, working,” before praising his reaction to the demands made of him: “We are extremely demanding with him, how we want him to respond on the pitch, and today he did the work.”
Emery talked more about Duran’s development, saying, “We are happy for him and adding one more player scoring goals and doing the work we need.” “He listens and we had to try to stop his impassioned moments sometimes, but that’s natural because he’s young, he wants everything quick, and the process he has we are doing,” Emery remarked in reference to Duran’s attitude. He scored a goal today, but his work ethic was more crucial.
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