Is Southampton's Martin correct in his Leicester assessment?

He is a boss who has been willing to honestly, and on one occasion particularly brutally, assess his Saints players in the dressing room and to supporters. 

Friday night’s 4-1 defeat to Leicester City came at a time when they needed to respond to a 5-0 humbling at Sunderland last time out. They did not. 

Speaking at Stadium of Light two weeks ago, before the international break, Martin said: “It's mentality and I have to take responsibility for that.

“I take responsibility for picking the team, I thought that was the team with the best mentality for the game.”

The ill-fated northeast trip was the second time one of his Southampton teams had been beaten comfortably, albeit a first league defeat, after Gillingham’s EFL Cup scalping.

At Priestfield, Martin told us: “It is the most disappointed I’ve been in my six weeks of being here.

“We had too many players who weren’t brave enough or didn’t want to play the way that we wanted and we paid for it.”

It contrasts with his verdict at St Mary’s this weekend, claiming: “I don’t think there was a huge amount between the teams, I know I’ll get criticised for saying that.

“We went toe to toe with them but we started the game so poorly that we gave ourselves a mountain to climb.”

So why is he now largely accepting of the manner of another heavy defeat? Does Martin really think Southampton were good enough or is he just protecting players? 

Make no bones about it. Anything positive said can be caveated by the fact Saints have conceded 16 goals in six Championship games.

Despite the expectation of promotion and one of the biggest budgets in the league, that will likely remain the most shipped by any team by the end of this matchday.

Saints have conceded four goals in the first 15 minutes of league matches this season and 10 in the first half of those games. This is, of course, the worst record in the league.

Martin’s side have hit the self-destruct button for many of those and it was no different going two goals behind to Leicester inside 18 minutes.

The Foxes deserved their win, ending with 4.14 expected goals on a night where – if it were not for wasteful finishing and four Gavin Bazunu stops – it could have been more.

Kyle Walker-Peters, speaking to the Daily Echo after the match, insisted: “We gave ourselves a mountain to climb. It was similar against Sunderland. 

“If we keep doing it, we are going to keep losing games. It’s something we need to eradicate quickly.”

Could it have been different? Goals one and two for Leicester, which ultimately set the tone of the evening, are a result of a succession of individual errors.

Young centre-back pairing Shea Charles, 19, and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, 21, will both be unhappy with respective contributions playing out and defending the box.

Saints had the same back four for the opening four games of the season - in which they were unbeaten - but have lost captain Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek to injury since. 

Martin made sure to stress he understands supporter responses to a shocking start but there was an indication he felt the resulting atmosphere became difficult to play in.

“The players have to do their very best to shut that out and let me deal with that but the only way we’ll change it is by winning games,” Martin told the Daily Echo.

“Honestly, I’ve got no criticism of the supporters as they’ve been great since I’ve been here. I’d have been annoyed too. Until they see the end product, there is always a bit of pain.”

It became a circus as Saints conceded counterattacks from sloppy short free-kicks before Che Adams and Flynn Downes both left an open goal to the other.

However, similarly to Sunderland, they could have gone in at half-time alive in the game. They did not defend nearly aggressively enough to prevent the third in added time.

Martin then lost goalscorer Sam Edozie and holding midfielder Downes to injuries in quick succession. Adam Armstrong missed a golden chance to reduce arrears.

Stephy Mavididi’s unchallenged precession towards goal in the 67th minute sealed the humiliation but, although suicidally set up, was merely a result of attacking overextension.

Southampton, seeing their season-lowest 55 per cent of the ball, are credited with significant periods of momentum in the game.

They created nine corners (to three), completed more than double the number of passes into the final third (177 to 72) and forced Mads Hermansen into seven saves.

On paper, you could say they had more shots than the Foxes (19 to 15) but that would not show that 12 of the opposition’s came inside the box, to just seven.

While Martin believes the 4-1 scoreline, which was eventually well reflective of the full 90 minutes, could easily have been avoided, there is an element of protecting a young group.

The big difference to Sunderland is that Southampton did create and a similar attacking performance in future is likely to yield goals.

But Saints are too easily played through and it presents a real problem for goalkeeper Bazunu, who was excellent, and Martin.

Suggestions that he had two weeks to sort the present issues are slightly wide of the mark. Only four of his starting XI were actually at Staplewood during the international break.

Six games into a season, with three wins and one draw, it is far too early to be calling for a manager’s head – there has been so much chaos in the last eight weeks.

Anxiety is piqued by Jason Wilcox and Martin both stating the intention to stick to the style of play through thick and thin. It could get worse before it gets better. 

As Martin had warned, even after positive results, there is a lot of work to do. The first 15 minutes against Ipswich Town on Tuesday are going to be massive.