Russell Martin has admitted that he should have played with a striker at the Vitality Stadium, however he still doesn't think he made any tactical mistakes and seems to place the blame on his squad.

The Daily Echo has again been reporting from the press conference ahead of the Arsenal game, worryingly the quotes from Russell Martin, point to a manager that cannot see where he is going wrong.

First off through Martin admitted that he should have played with a striker:

"It's really easy with hindsight but I should have played with a nine, whether that's Ross, Paul Onuachu, Adam Armstrong or Cam," Martin told the Daily Echo.

But when asked if changes were counter-productive to the team's understanding, he responded:

"No, not really because we played that system a lot.

"We played it a fair bit last season at times. We build up like that. I think the formation would have changed as we got through the thirds.

"We just didn't spend long enough in their final third. We had like eight days or whatever to work on it in training so it's not like it was really alien to them.

"It's about assessing the opposition. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. If it works, then everyone speaks about the changes you make.

"Maybe I am guilty of trying to find something to really hurt one opposition but I don't think it's a problem. The players know it.

"The occasion and the moment took over, really so it sort of negated any tactics. I maybe could have, after the second goal, maybe made a sub or two.

"That's my learning, but it's never a nice feeling to have to do that in the first half. Looking back, I should have, so I take responsibility for that.

"But in terms of being counterproductive in the shape and system and all that? No, they all played together enough. The concept doesn't change."

So the message is clear from Russell Martin, he has set out the tactics, the blame lies with his team for being unable to play the system that he demanded.

Even Echo reporter Alfie House is baffled, commenting

" I’m no tactico but I worry Russell Martin is trying so hard to find a winning formula that he’s betraying one of his own fundamentals.

"He says his sides are best when they have total understanding and feeling with teammates. Can they when it’s changing every week?"

Russell Martin is now clearly part of the problem than the solution, good managers recognise the strengths and weaknesses of their squad, both as individuals and a unit, they work round those when employing the tactics, they play to their strengths not their weaknesses.

When you are going through bad runs you don't start complicating matters by employing strange tactical changes, you get back to basics, straight forward tactics that the players can understand and are used to, not trying to invent weird and wonderful systems to baffle the opposition, when all that does is baffle your own players.

The Bournemouth coaching team has already said that when they saw the Saints line up it fired them up, they knew that Saints played a possession passing game along the back and into the midfield, but they could see that ultimately it would have no outlet, no one up front to try and hit, they knew all they had to do was sit back, watch Saints pass it amongst themselves and wait for the moment to pounce.

They did that with ease and their wasn't a Southampton supporter watching who was surprised by what was happening.

You would have thought that after the performance against Ipswich which had a lot of positives and came so near to victory, that Russell Martin would have built on that, but he didn't he tore it apart and the consequences was that what was left was torn apart again by Bournemouth.

You could see that the players themselves were not comfortable, they knew their manager had hung them out to dry with his tactics and team selection.

I have for the past year been an advocate of Russell Martin, whatever some might say, he inherited a squad that was in transition with people leaving and coming in the first month of the season and he took us to promotion, some might say that with the squad he had he should have done better, but football is a results game and he got the result he was appointed to do, get promotion.

I thought that he deserved his shot at the Premier League, but I also thought that we would see whether he had it in him to adapt his tactics, not throw them out the window, but adapt them.

At the moment the answer is that he doesn't seem to be able to do that, he has an arrogance that says, I am a great manager, we are only losing games because I have not got great players, so the blame is not with me.

All managers have to have this arrogance, but they also have to have the flexibility to adapt and change their way of doing things.

The founder of Sony, Akio Morita was famous for his quotes, this is one that is pertinent here.

"If you go through life convinced that your way is always best, all the new ideas in the world will pass you by."

Sadly I think Russell Martin will always think his way is always best !

All Photos Via Reuters

saintpete01 added 09:26 - Oct 4 I’d expect better management in the Sunday League
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wessexman added 09:37 - Oct 4 After the Arsenal game, the board are going to have to act. If they don't, we are doomed. If the appoint like for like, we are probably doomed. If they appoint a proven Prem manager, we might stand a chance. RM's arrogance got us here. What is more baffling is, why the board have stood by it for so long. After losing the first game to NF, alarm bells should have started ringing.

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dirk_doone added 09:41 - Oct 4 We don't really have a centre forward. In January, we should get Ayoub El Kaabi. His goals would keep us up. It would've been better still if we'd bought him in the summer, instead of a load of mediocre wingers and inside forwards.
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saint901 added 10:48 - Oct 4 I have a family member who works on the B'muff coaching staff and I had a chat with him. I would agree with the comment above that B'muff were overjoyed with the line up from Saints. His view was that without a recognised striker/number 9, B'muff were able to commit an extra person forward and play the whole midfield 10/15 metres ahead of where they would be against a better side. This mean that the "thirds" which seem to dominate RM's thinking effectively became "halves" because we rarely were in any position to do harm past the half way line. As for the suggestion that it's the team/squad and their inability to deliver RM's tactics, that seems a sure fire way to lose the dressing room for a team/squad that he has built. I'd be happy with three goal or less deficit against Arsenal and then for the Board to take some action. Personally I think we may not see action until at least early December or perhaps at all this season.

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IanRC added 11:15 - Oct 4 He is so contradictory, says he wants to shield Tyler then gives him almost sole responsibility to play up front. I’m afraid he has lost my support just hope we don’t see a 9-0 on Saturday to keep Linekar and his cronies happy. I agree that Sports Republic have badly mismanaged by not signing a proven PL striker but I disagree with others that the squad is completely inadequate. With a decent manager we could survive but sadly we don’t have one.

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deanmiller added 12:17 - Oct 4 I couldn't bear to listen to the whole of the press conference but what I did hear was complete nonsense. I can see no other result tomorrow than a massive goal rush from Arsenal.
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kingolaf added 13:33 - Oct 4 He really is an arrogant so and so. As the piece (well-written) says - he is part of the problem. We need a smart manager who will make the best of the players at his disposal. Not one that is wedded to a style of play come-what-may, regardless of the abilities of his squad. The man is most definitely not Russell Martin. I firmly believe a new manager can give us some bounce, in much the same way Bally did when he was appointed. Relegation does not have to be a formality, although it is if Martin stays. The board have to be man enough to make the change.

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YosemiteSaint added 18:32 - Oct 4 Meanwhile, in Russell Martin's office the morning of 30 September: "OK, we've got a goalie? Check. Some defenders? Check. A few midfielders? Check. Am I forgetting anything? No, this looks right."
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Jesus_02 added 18:53 - Oct 4 Frustrating that after encouraging progress against Ipswich and Everton we didn't build. I RM and don't think that he is arrogant. On the contrary he isn't confident enough. No disrespect to Bournemouth but why are you trying to set up a team to specifically address how they play? What team do you try to focus on OUR strengths against. As a club we over think everything.

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Colburn added 08:27 - Oct 5 We lost to Newcastle, Forest and Bournemouth for the same reason.. I didn’t see the Brentford game but that reason is the lack of focal point to our attack with no central striker. How he managed to decide this was the right way at Bournemouth is beyond me. He can say how unhappy he is being written off after 6 games but whose fault is that? How bad do your decisions have to be for everyone to say this. I have been a big defender of Martin but his stubbornness and unwillingness to learn has been his downfall to date. He has to adapt quickly and swallow his pride or he will have to go. We have the squad to stay up in my opinion so at the moment Russell is the problem.

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IanRC added 13:10 - Oct 5 Not signing Delap or the Corinthians striker is a fundamental error made by Sports Republic’s representatives, sadly not the only one.
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