Time's needed for Saints to march in

RUSSELL Martin's promising start to life as manager of Southampton has swiftly subsided into something approaching crisis following a sequence of embarrassing defeats. 

- Chris Dunlavy

Cricket scores are nothing new to beleaguered Saints fans. Their long, slow death in the Premier League was accompanied by 9-0 butcherings at the hands of Manchester United and Leicester.

Theoretically, the Championship offered the opportunity for Southampton to once again play the big fish but they have so far been devoured like plankton, Sunderland administering a 5-0 humiliation at the Stadium of Light before the Foxes rattled in another four at their second home on the south coast.

Much more of this and Martin's position will inevitably fall under scrutiny, but some context is required before anyone at St Mary's starts fingering the panic button.

Towards the end of last season I drew some admittedly obvious parallels between the playing styles of Martin's Swansea side and the Burnley team of Vincent Kompany, which won the title by a ten-point margin and suffered only three defeats in the entire campaign.

It was evident in the data. It was visible to the naked eye. And the natural conclusion to draw was that Martin, furnished with a squad of Burnley's quality, should be able to match the Belgian's results.

Southampton clearly went through a similar thought process, paying £1.25m to prise the 37-year-old from Swansea following relegation.