Martin: One of the best performances I've been involved in
Russell Martin declared Southampton’s first-half performance at Swansea “one of the best I’ve been involved in” as the manager returned to his former club and left with a deserved 3-1 victory.
Saints were exceptional throughout a first period in which all four of the goals in the game were scored.
Martin admits the level dipped in the second period, particularly in the final 15 minutes when Swansea twice hit the woodwork, but the win lifts Saints into second spot in the Sky Bet Championship table ahead of Monday night’s showdown between fellow automatic promotion chasers Leicester and Ipswich.
“It’s one of the best performances I’ve been involved in as a coach, for sure. I don’t think I ever played in a team that dominant as a player – I didn’t – so that’s one of the best performances I’ve been involved in with football in the first half,” Martin said.
“I was annoyed we conceded a really poor goal, really annoyed with that at half time. We should’ve scored more, definitely, but the guys were relentless.
“The intensity, their playing in flow, their playing together, their running for each other was really amazing to watch, and I hope the players and the supporters who were here, the staff and the people watching back home, our fans, would’ve felt that as well.
“Then they (Swansea) made changes and got a lot stronger from that. We made changes and didn’t, which we usually do; the subs have a huge impact – it’s not a negative on the subs, it’s my fault for the timing of them.
“I took Taylor (Harwood-Bellis) off because he’s on the booking, but it’s such an important position and Jack (Stephens) is an amazing player and deserves to get on the pitch.
“We gave them too many chances in the last 15 minutes and it became a little bit helter-skelter and a bit scary because we didn’t have the same intensity that we had in the first half, and we didn’t have the same purpose with the ball.
“I’m annoyed at the last 15 minutes. It’s my job to make sure the guys are reminded all the time and we’re really honest with them about the performance, but for so long they were so good and I was really proud of them.”
Ryan Fraser is hoisted aloft as Saints' players celebrate victory at Swansea
The victory means Saints are now 21 games unbeaten in all competitions – a new club record in the Football League era.
“We had two big incentives today,” the boss added. “The first one was to put ourselves in a position that we would want to be in come the end of the season, and also send a message to the people watching – we watch the early game every single week, so the boys had a chance to make a bit of a statement with that, and they really did, they were amazing.
“The other incentive was to make history as a group, which I’m really proud of. The celebrations at the end were so nice with the supporters and the players. You can see how much the players are enjoying it, I hope, and now we have to just keep going.”
