Champion League

Martin’s 5 ft 9 ‘monster’ has made himself undroppable

When Russell Martin took over the reins at Southampton, the embarrassment of riches that he inherited and the quality he was able to add in the window meant anything other than promotion would have been classed as a failure.

He began life as many expected, guiding the Saints to three victories from their first four and while their attack was dominating, his defence was being ripped apart and sooner rather than later his side would be on the receiving end of a hammering.

Few would have expected it to come from a Sunderland side who only scored four in as many matches prior, managing to thrash Martin’s side 5-0 at the Stadium of Light.

That gut-wrenching display followed three more as Southampton suffered damning defeats against Leicester, Ipswich and Middlesbrough, handing the latter their first victory of the season.

Many would have expected a fifth to follow when in-form Leeds arrived at St Mary’s, however, they ended their September horror show with a 3-1 victory over the Whites as goals from Adam Armstrong and Will Smallbone injected some much-needed positivity back into the club, relieving the pressure from the underfire Martin.

Who were Southampton’s best performers vs Leeds?

Martin is widely recognised in the EFL for utilising a possession-heavy style that lacks substance, dominating long periods of the match without providing the killer instinct at the top end of the pitch.

Against Leeds, though, Martin’s side uncharacteristically had less of the ball (47% to 53%), made fewer passes (442/492) and fewer shots (10/15) but were ruthless when the opportunities arrived, scoring three of their five shots on target, as per SofaScore.

Adam Armstrong, who was integral to providing that clinical edge in the final third, chalked up an xG of 0.80, landed three efforts on target and scored two of them as the Englishman rose up to the occasion, as did Will Smallbone.

The 23-year-old has been subject to criticism for having gone missing in the Saints midfield but against Leeds, he put in a phenomenal display, completing 81% of his passes, attempting three duels, making two clearances and capping off his all-round performance with a well-taken goal, via SofaScore.

Armstrong and Smallbone weren’t the only standout performers as Kamaldeen Sulemana wreaked havoc in the Leeds defence and showed glimpses of why they made him their club record signing in January.

How did Kamaldeen Sulemana perform vs Leeds?

Ahead of their home fixture against Stoke City, Martin hinted at rotating his side to navigate through the busy schedule.

He said: “We must be realistic and accept that we are probably going to have to rotate a little bit over the next two games.

“With the medical team and the sports science team, we will do our very best to make them recover as quickly as possible.”



kamaldeen-sulemana-southampton-premier-league

Regardless of tiredness – as the saying goes – you shouldn’t change a winning side and one man who should be immune from rotation is Sulemana following his performance against Leeds, with Martin lauding him as a “monster”.

Full of praise for the 21-year-old, who has struggled since making a £22m switch from Stade Rennais in January, Martin waxed lyrical about his performance even further, saying:

“He’s an incredible talent. I genuinely believe he can probably play wherever he wants at some point in his career if he puts everything that he has in the right place and in the right direction.”

There’s no wonder why his manager was over the moon with his display as the Ghanian assisted twice, successfully completed three of his four dribbles, made three tackles, won 60% of his ground duels and completed two key passes.

Sulemana’s influence on the match was unrelenting and although Martin will likely rest some of his side against Stoke, the highly rated winger – who was once dubbed as “exceptional” by Erik ten Hag – is surely undroppable after his sensational performance against the Whites.

Daraja Kapoor

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