Southampton travel to Bournemouth on Monday night, hoping that results over the weekend will mean they will still be in with a chance of getting out of the relegation zone, but for Russell Martin the stakes are higher.

Many years ago an ex Saints manager, commenting to me on one of his successors who was under fire, told me that in the modern game a manager at any given time is only 3 defeats away from the sack.

That had some substance for most teams, although these days I can't see Manchester City sacking Pep Guardiola if they lost 3 games in a row.

Russell Martin this time last year was under fire after 4 straight defeats after a promising start to the season, the complaints back then were very similar to those being levelled by Saints supporters a year later, a stubbornness to play certain players, a lack of leadership on the pitch and rigidly sticking to the possession football game.

So on the face of it his critics will say that he has learned nothing in 12 months.

However although the situation was slightly different last year, there are many comparisons to be drawn.

Firstly Martin was hampered by the transfer window last year and it has been a similar situation this time out and secondly the date 30th September is going to be crucial for him

A year ago he was bedding in his new signings and that has been the case this year and after his 4th straight defeat, all caused by overplaying, poor marking and favouritism, he almost got it right in the 5th game of the run, there were plenty of causes for optimism in the draw with Ipswich and with two minutes less injury time we might well have been talking about the Saints manager in a different context now.

A year ago Martin went into the game against Leeds United on 30th September with his job on the line, we will never know, but it would have been hard to see him surviving a fifth straight defeat, but it was a fine 3-1 win over the Yorkshire side and that kick started a 22 game unbeaten run in the League.

Now we go to Bournemouth on Monday and a look at the calendar shows that it is another day of destiny for Russell on 30th September.

The draw against Ipswich has perhaps bought some leeway for Russell, but with a trip to in form Arsenal only days away after the trip to the Cherries, it is probably fair to say we are probably not going to go on another 22 game unbeaten run this season (I'm hoping to tempt fate here)

Beating Bournemouth would pull us to within a point of them and drag them into the relegation dog fight, but defeat could leave us cast adrift at the bottom.

So losing to Bournemouth could push the Southampton board to a change, 5 defeats in 6 games with most of them avoidable would see most managers sacked, losing to Arsenal on Saturday would make it 6 out of 7, I don't know the stats but I would hazard a guess that there are few managers who survive runs such as this.

Ian Branfoot did at Southampton in 1993/94 winning just 1 game in the opening 9 of the Premier League season, indeed just 5 points from the opening 11 fixtures, but he held on to January and after the arrival of Alan Ball we achieved survival.

Perhaps a more direct comparison though would be Dave Jones in his first season back in 1997/98, he lost his opening 3 Premier League games, won the 4th and after 9 games had just 4 points.

Again Jones survived and so did we at the end of the season.

So Saints have history of giving managers a chance after a bad start to the season, however it could be said that Martin had that chance last season and he has learned little from it, the mistakes of a year ago have been repeated now, a good manager adapts his system to the players that he has to hand, Martin has not done that in the opening 4 games and although there is some evidence he did against Ipswich, but that is still too little too late for some.

So a big big night at the Vitality Stadium on Monday night and Russell Martin will be hoping that for a second year running this will be a lucky day for him.

All Photos Via Reuters

saintmark1976 added 10:43 - Sep 27 So Nick, we lose on Monday and the Owners and Board decide to sack Russell Martin. What happens next ? The Club has a contractual obligation to pay Martin an obscene amount of money, probably millions. The Club appoints another manager and we rinse and repeat with very little if any improvement in our league position. Our problem as a Club is that the Owners, Board and Recruitment Staff have assembled a Championship squad to play in The Premiership. Russell Martin ( as would any incoming manager ) is doing his best but simply hasn’t got the resources at his disposal to allow him to succeed. Changing the manager isn’t going to make a blind bit of difference. We are Championship bound, probably with a points total very near to the record Premiership low obtained by Derby a few years back.

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Bazza added 11:45 - Sep 27 We may be championship bound at the moment but it is not inevitable. Changing the manager should bring better tactics, better team selection and timely substitutions. As you say a change of management would be costly but so is relegation. Martin may be popular but that is a hindrance to optimal team selection. Of course finding a good replacement manager has its own problems.

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DellBoyWally added 13:34 - Sep 27 What is wrong with people? "Let's become Saints' fan so we can whinge and whine" We gained a draw, we aren't bottom, we've played 5 games with 33 to go! Our opposition on Monday went 10 games without a win, they were getting used to a style of play, bedding-in. Then they went and attained their highest ever points total.. Their fans didn't call to sack the board, fire the manager. They got behind the players, supported their team. So unlike Saints' supporters who are whinging if we don't score within 30 seconds of the start, calling to sack the manager if still no score after 10 minutes. GET REAL. It's going to be difficult, points will be few and far between, there'll be disappointments. We don't have a team of Championship players as some so called fans suggest. We have a decent side. Get behind them and be proper supporters instead of of whining minnies.

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SaintPaulVW added 13:47 - Sep 27 Yes Martin may get the sack but I think, unless there is an alternative already lined up, that after 6 games would be far too early. Those that don't like Martin, didn't like him last year and despite celebrating going up were never going to give him much time in any case. Staying in the PL for a newly promoted side is always going to be tough. I have seen enough improvement over the last 2 games to believe he deserves more time. However it is football, so we shall have to see what happens. Hopefully 3 points and a chill pill for most of our fans. COYR

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Bowlercow added 17:05 - Sep 27 The stats would suggest that he has implemented a lesser possession based style Against Ipswich we saw Rambo at least attempting to ass the ball to players on or near the half way line Not always successful but it made us less predictable The number of good chances increased as did the accuracy of our passes Talk of sacking RM and disbanding the board are premature and we'll OTT

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codge added 22:13 - Sep 27 On the bright side we won’t have to worry that Stephens or Smallbone will be on the team sheet,so something to smile about.
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davidargyll added 10:14 - Sep 28 I sincerely hope we do well this weekend. But I will be amazed if we do. Because we cannot progress any further under this manager and I cannot understand how others fail to see this. He is naive in his tactics, his set-up, his subs, his penalty taker(!). And he’s far too chummy with the players. Are we really saying that he is doing better, or more importantly WILL FROM HEREON do better than Ralph? Or God forbid Nathan Jones? Moreover, everybody seems to be forgetting that all the other teams around us aren’t standing still, they are all starting to get their acts together. So no matter what we do, our task will just get harder over the next few weeks. And as for all this rubbish about five games is not long enough. How many bad results do you want before you will admit he’s no good? 8? 10? 20? The longer SR takes to sack him the worse the pile of poo we will find ourselves. End of.

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saintmark1976 added 12:43 - Sep 28 Some would say that he’s doing considerably better than Ralph, davidargyll. Ralph’s team containing proven Premiership players won one game in fourteen toward the end of the season before we were relegated and our erstwhile Owners and Board still considered it a good idea to keep him on. Another master stroke on their part don’t you know. I appreciate that I’m swimming against the tide ( hence the 10 down arrows to my original post ) but still remain of the opinion that replacing Martin will not solve our current problems. Put simply, despite a net spend of £70 million in the last window our current squad isn’t good enough to survive in The Premiership. Until those in positions of influenced above the manager ( be it Martin or A N O ) start to get their act together the Club’s direction of travel won’t change. The Championship beckons.

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davidargyll added 12:51 - Sep 28 I think Saintmark where we disagree is that you think it’s the Board’s fault us being where we are, by which I presume you mean that you think their black box buying process is cock-eyed. Whereas I happen to think we have got some good and indeed one or two very good players who are able to survive in the PL but who are currently being managed wrong. In my view RM will not succeed regardless of who he’s got in his squad because he simply has not got the wherewithal to be a successful top flight manager.

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saintmark1976 added 13:27 - Sep 28 Nail on head davidargyll, you are absolutely correct in that our respective views on responsibility for our current problems are diametrically opposite. That’s what makes following the Saints interesting I suppose, two people see the same matches but form different conclusions. I genuinely hope that my conclusion is the wrong one and that come this time next year we will still be discussing Premiership football.

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janecook added 21:43 - Sep 28 Martin Out Potter in simple but be quick before Everton do!!!!!
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darthvader added 12:43 - Sep 29 I say give him the season and the one after if we go down its proven he knows the championship. When we won at wembley did we really care at that moment about being relegated again . It would hurt but not as much as last season was immense for the fans . The club needs premier league money no doubt but who here prefers the championship and the chase for the top spots ? Changing the management is ridiculous. Back him

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