Russell Martin branded his Southampton players ‘soft’ following their 3-1 defeat to Bournemouth.
The Saints found themselves 3-0 down after 39 minutes and, although they got a goal back through Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Martin’s side were unable to stage a comeback.
Southampton are currently in 19th place in the Premier League and have taken just one point from their six games so far this season.
Martin was livid after the game and was especially critical of the body language of his players in the first half.
The Southampton boss added that he was ‘hurt and disappointed’ and also stated that he didn’t give his players sufficient tools to respond to setbacks.
Russell Martin was critical of his Southampton players following the defeat to Bournemouth
Martin was unhappy with the body language of some of his players in the first half
Speaking on Sky Sports, Martin said: ‘I didn’t recognise the body language. I didn’t like that one bit. In the second half, they showed lots of fight and courage which was too late.
‘I’m really hurt and disappointed by the first half. It’s on me and I have to give them some tools to respond to the setback better than we did.
‘We obviously haven’t learned from the setback at the Manchester United game which is a problem.
‘We were soft, so forget style of play. If you don’t want to run, fight and make contact, take things personally, we didn’t come out with the ball at all in the first half, then it’s going to be a problem.’
Martin praised Joe Aribo and Ross Stewart but reflected that there was a lack of cohesion amongst his team.
He said: ‘It’s really clear what we have to do and what the focus has to be, especially with the game we have coming up at the weekend.
‘It’s really clear for me the people who have to play. Joe Aribo when he came on was outstanding, Ross Stewart wanted the ball, was brave and wanted to fight.
‘We need a team on the pitch that we know is going to fight for everything, regardless of talent and style.
Martin felt that substitute Joe Aribo showed good spirit following his introduction
Martin’s side have taken just one point from their first six league games this season
‘We had a tough time last season and a lot of those characters are in that dressing room.
‘Maybe they need to be back on the pitch.’
Martin, whose position as Southampton boss will come under greater scrutiny, admitted that he also had to question himself.
He said: ‘I have to question myself. I thought I had made enough of a deal about the way they approached the game and how good they are at certain things but it obviously wasn’t enough as we looked under-prepared for that which considering the work we did is crazy.
‘I will never come out here and blame the group of players as we are together. I was hurt by the lack of spirit and fight, and I’ve told them that. There’s nothing that I haven’t already said in the dressing room.
‘But I am the leader so it’s my problem to sort out.’
‘I couldn’t identify my team in the first half in terms of attitude and spirit and fight. I got this far in my career not based on talent but on mentality.
‘I obviously haven’t passed that enough on to the players tonight. I thought we would be fine after the first setback and we weren’t , so that is my problem to sort out.
‘I told them at half time to show that they could actually run and fight for us, for the staff and for the supporters who I thought were great.
‘I feel sorry for them after the first half and at least they did that, which took courage. I thank them for that but I shouldn’t really be thanking my team for running and fighting.’
Southampton are set to face another tough challenge on Saturday when they travel to play Arsenal.
