3 - 1 - 4. Southampton’s record having lost to Middlesbrough Saturday afternoon. The four in the defeat column occurring in successive games as September threatens to end with zero points - Leeds on the 30th a veritable last chance saloon to rectify this. After beating Sheffield Wednesday on the opening night, “HMS Piss the League” emerged as jovial fan rhetoric but now murmurs of a “Martin out” maxim is growing, a far cry from the whimsical optimism of August.
The notion of a sacking a manager at this stage is premature as realistically it’s still early days. Granted it may not feel like it having played 8 games already however due to the sheer length of the Championship season there is still a whopping 38 games to go. Effectively a full length Premier League season awaits us, perhaps not the best analogy given the our last full PL season.
Ultimately the rise of the stated maxim stems deeper beyond merely four poor results and lends itself to a greater narrative surrounding the relationship between the club and the fans.
Southampton is undergoing a hard reset. As RM put himself “if anyone expected there not to be any pain when it’s such a big change then they are very naive.” The proverbial rod made for his [RM] back is that the start of the season was so promising. An unbeaten August, culminating in 10 points, is naturally going see an upsurge in fan expectation. The subsequent decline becomes far more impactful. There is a poignant caveat regarding the swing in opponent quality from August to September but from fan perception sunshine & roses has reverted back to chastening flashbacks of the last campaign.
The “pain” coming after early gains.
In addition to the “naive” comment, RM has stressed the need to ‘strap in’ in relation to potential peaks and troughs this season. A rousing request more befitting a cinematic blockbuster than a football team with current delusions of grandeur - albeit an understandable request given the evident overhaul tactically.
Furthermore RM iterates the buzzword courage regarding the teams style of play in the knowledge that “there will be sticky moments but when you see it through and ride through this moment it will be brilliant.” A sort of karmic merry go round of fans trusting the players to exude the required courage to perform a certain way, is a challenging concept in an environment that demands instantaneous results alongside offering minimal margin for error.
The underlying culture shift at Southampton certainly requires fan involvement although this engagement is, and will be, a function of mood. Barring the Sunderland fiasco the other three games in this run of defeats have all had moments in which the mood was positive thus the fan/team connection is there. After Edozie reduced the deficit against Leicester there was a palpable feeling that Saints, unlike many times last season, were not down and out. This feeling present again versus Ipswich as Southampton pushed for an equaliser only for Adams to be denied by the keeper’s face. Even the lesser experienced sensation of being a tad in control was present in the first half of the Middlesbrough match prior to their equaliser.
The above nicely demonstrates the beginning of the disconnect causing the “Martin out” noise. The aforementioned sticky moments are common place in football, pretty much every team in every match experiences these. The problem is these moments are being ruthless punished by opposing teams, subsequently the supporters get jittery when situations repeat themselves and anxiety leaks out of the stands like a dense fog. Naturally the players pick up on this and make further errors, ending up in a what came first the chicken or the egg style debate.
Sounds obvious but Southampton (sooner rather than later) simply need to get over the line, proving to both supporters and themselves they have the capacity to overcome challenges. This eureka moment, this lightbulb moment is exactly what is needed to quieten down the murmurs surrounding the manager.
