Russell Martin has responded to boos and chants from Southampton fans calling for the manager to be sacked during the 5-0 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.
His side fell behind after just 36 seconds at St Mary’s when James Maddison scored the first of his two goals on the night to go 3-0 down inside 15 minutes thanks to further strikes from Heung-Min Son and Dejan Kulusevski.
The third hit on net caused large sections of the home support to voice their anger, chanting “We want Martin out”, while others left the stadium in protest after Pap Sarr headed in Alex McCarthy’s fourth after 25 minutes.
Initially, in his post-match press conference, which lasted less than five minutes, Martin was asked to respond to the frustrations voiced so intensely.
“I really don’t have an answer,” he said. “The fans have been amazing to us since we’ve been here since day one.
“I understand the frustration, I also understand the modern world and football, what it is and what it’s about.”
However, shortly after, he added: “As a person, (it doesn’t hurt too much). But when I put my ego into it as a manager, it hurts a lot because you work so hard every day.
“But it’s not personal, I don’t know them. So it’s a criticism of the work I do. I don’t think you can criticize a person when you don’t know them.” so it’s a critique of the work I do.
“Of course it hurts because we work so hard. But you have to accept it as part of football and it is what it is.”
When asked if the fans will fulfill their wish, he said:
“I’m going to keep working and I’m going to keep fighting until they tell me I’m not going to anymore.”
In his assessment of the game and the error, Martin said the manner of the first goal summed up where the Saints went wrong.
“I think the game really boils down to a moment where we have an opportunity to cheat Jed Spence, he shouldn’t see that side of us,” he said.
“When we put the game plan together as a group of players and staff, everyone agrees that’s the best way to be aggressive against Spurs and try to steal the ball and stop them getting into a flow with their running and high pressing.
James Maddison performs his trademark darts celebration after giving Spurs an early lead at Southampton
“We’re not doing it with enough physicality or aggression in the 30-odd seconds. So Spence is not fouling. Flynn Downs is fouling out in the second half.”
“I think moments like that are so big and we don’t manage them well enough. Then when we get down, which has been the story of the season so far, we don’t handle it anywhere near enough to take a breath and go back to plan stay together get out of trouble after 40 minutes it’s game over.
“At halftime I asked them to show some care about us and what they were doing, and I thought they did that in the second half. I thought they did that at that point :
“Everybody’s trying. They practiced so hard this week. But the mentality of the team in the first half is a problem.”
Southampton’s next six Premier League games
Fulham (a) – December 22, 14:00 – Sky Sports Premier League Live
West Ham (h) – December 26, at 3 p.m
Crystal Palace (a) – December 29 at 3:00 p.m
Brentford (h) – January 4, at 15:00
Manchester United (a) – January 16, at 20:00
Nottingham Forest (a) – January 19, at 14:00
