EVEN Russell Martin turned his back on his pitiful Southampton team as the goals rained down on them.
Eredivisie 2024/2025
0-5
Match report
The under-fire Saints player had already gone down the tunnel to prepare his half-time team talk before James Maddison struck an ingenious fifth.
Martin's blunder created a nightmare first half, with Maddison scoring before and after strikes from Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Matar Sarr.
The visitors' rush of goals provided a welcome change and a first win in six games.
But for Martin it was pure humiliation that, in the meantime, seemed to rival the record-breaking 9-0 suffered by Ralph Hasenhuttl against Maddison's Leicester in 2019.
It didn't reach that level of agony, but it was still seriously painful for the 38-year-old.
He was subjected to taunts such as 'We want Martin out' and 'Russell Martin, your football is s***' by the home fans – many of whom left early.
And with just five points from the first 16 games – a position no Premier League side has ever survived – Martin's employment prospects were bleak.
Fans are frustrated by his pursuit of sexy football, which does not match the quality of players he has at this level.
There was also a lot of anger on the away side – despite the score – towards the watching chairman Daniel Levy.
Supporters see the 62-year-old as the main reason for their lack of success during his 24-year reign, singing anti-Levy songs throughout.
St Mary's was the scene of Antonio Conte's epic meltdown in March last year, with the Italian verbally torching the club and its players for being second-rate.
It came after his Spurs side had somehow gone from 3-1 down with ten minutes remaining to a 3-3 draw – and it turned out to be the Italian troublemaker's last game in charge.
A blurring of the vision Conte and the club had for the future first appeared eight months earlier in pre-season and centered around Spence.
Unprompted, Conte raised the subject of Middlesbrough's £12.5 million signing, labeling him a “club purchase”.
He never played against him and, astonishingly, Spence had to wait two and a half years last night before making his first start for Tottenham.
Most never expected this to happen after his season-long loan spell at Leeds was cut short last season due to his poor attitude.
But the 24-year-old put his ideas aside last summer and was retained by Postecoglou, who finally gave him a chance from the start while Pedro Porro was tired and out of form.
It proved worth the eternal wait as Spence was excellent and beautifully scored the 38-second opener, driving forward and slotting the ball through for Maddison to stick between Alex McCarthy's legs.
After a dismal run of one win in eight games, it was the perfect start for Postecoglou's injury-hit side, but things were about to get so much better.
Still, the away fans made sure their point about Levy was not lost during the celebrations and immediately after Maddison's goal they again told their chairman to go.
One became two after 12 minutes and then three two minutes after that.
First, Maddison's cross was deflected off Jan Bednarek's head and fell at the feet of Son, who cheerfully fired home.
The South Korean then turned provider as he squared for Dominic Solanke, who did just enough to deny Bednarek from scoring but not to convert Kulusevski on the rebound.
The Spurs support cheered this with a rendition of “I don't care about Levy, he doesn't care about me, all I care about is Kulusevski”.
But at that moment it was the reaction of the home fans that took center stage as they attacked Martin with raucous chants.
He opted to make a change with poor Kamaldeen Sulemana, the fall guy for the flailing display, and defender Nathan Wood sent on in his place.
However, it did little to turn the tide and after 25 minutes Son came straight at Sarr, who danced around the Saints backline and crossed past the helpless McCarthy.
Postecoglou suffered a heavy blow the last time he was on the south coast, with fans calling him 'Poste-no-clue' after a weak 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth ten days ago.
However, they sang his name here after Sarr's attack, giving the Australian some relief during the most difficult time of his tenure.
Some Saints supporters chose to leave at that point, no doubt fearing a Leicester-like embarrassment.
Ex-Fox Maddison had an inspired second here just before half-time when he shot from the sharpest angle.
It was reminiscent of Frank Lampard's famous strike against Barcelona for Chelsea all those years ago, but Martin was already through the tunnel as the ball rippled over the net.
Saints were booed and then booed again – you don't see that very often – before ironic oles for successive passes and self-mockery about how they 'came for you', Portsmouth in the Championship.
Their side was actually better after the break, but the devastating damage had already been done, pushing Martin's post to breaking point.
Some Saints fans who chose to stay until the end mocked Martin with chants of “You're getting fired in the morning.”
While a banner lifted by fans read: “RM GET OUT OF OUR CLUB.”
Setups
Southampton XI: McCarthy, Bednarek, Ryan Manning, Adam Armstrong, Joe Aribo, Walker-Peters, Flynn Downes, Harwood-Bellis, Kamaldeen Sulemana, Tyler Dibling, Mateus Fernandes
Subs: Lallana, Fraser, Paul Onuachu, Joe Lumley, James Bree, Yukinari Sugawara, Nathan Wood, Cameron Archer, Samuel Amo-Ameyaw
Tottenham
Subs: Werner, Austin, Pedro Porro, Brennan Johnson, Alfie Dorrington, Will Lankshear, Callum Olusesi, Maeson King, Malachi Hardy
Comments