Russell Martin Manager
Saints were beaten 1-0 at home by potential relegation rivals Nottingham Forest, meaning they are without a point after two Premier League matches. Morgan Gibbs-White scored the only goal for the visitors but it was a deserved win with Saints managing just one shot on goal across the 90 minutes. Martin labelled it “crazy” that no Saints player attacked the balls into the box in the closing stages but he was calm in his assessment of the match.
Russell Martin said “Ultimately, we conceded from a rubbish set-piece. We shouldn’t give the ball away for the corner in the first place. Saints will hunt their first points of the season at Brentford (Image: Stuart Martin) We had a chance to secure the ball, in the moment when we were so on top, got to grips with the game brilliantly and we started to cause them real problems. Then we give them a corner and we have a chance to clear it inside the box and we don’t. I don’t know what goes on after that, I need to watch it back. It’s not good enough for how much work we do on set-plays so I’m annoyed at that, but we didn’t play well enough in the first half. There was a lot of tension in the team and they started well. We turned the ball over too much which meant there was a lot of tension in the stadium. They made a couple of moments we didn’t make the most of but I think it was out of eagerness to make things happen and we just turned the ball over. The minute we got into their final third we just turned it over. Against Forest, it’s the worst thing you can do. It’s frustrating because we spoke about it all week.”
Martin named an unchanged side from the team that were promising in defeat to Newcastle United, including forwards Ben Brereton Diaz and Adam Armstrong. The pair took up wide positions, often hugging the touchline, leaving the middle free. However, Saints only mustered one shot from inside the box. Martin explained:
Russell Martin said “They both had chances inside the box at Newcastle. It’s the same shape we won the play-offs with. It makes us fairly solid. It’s utilising the players that we have at the minute in the best way. Ben’s always played there and Arma played there all last season and scored a lot of goals. I’ve learned a lot about that in the last two games and what we need to tweak, but we’ll see it again and we might not. It’s not the reason we lose.”
