Owner of Southampton, Dragan Solak, is reportedly concerned about the team’s poor performance in the Premier League so far this season. Under Russell Martin, the Saints have only managed one point from their first six games. However, talkSPORT reporter Alex Crook feels that Martin is not solely to blame for the team’s slow start, placing more blame on previous hiring practices.
Before finally securing their first point of the season at home against Ipswich Town—albeit with a goal from the Tractor Boys in the dying moments of the game—Saints lost their opening four games of the season to sit bottom of the league pointless.
They were defeated by Manchester United, Brentford, Nottingham Forest, and Newcastle United. That was followed up with their worst result yet in a 3-1 loss to Bournemouth, and with Arsenal and Manchester City coming up, they may yet slip further down the table – though Martin isn’t fully to blame, says Crook.
Crook: Southampton Owner ‘Concerned’ at Slow Start
The reporter believes that Russell Martin isn’t entirely to blame
Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Crook stated that Serbian owner Solak, is ‘concerned’ by the club’s poor start to the campaign – though he believed that Martin isn’t entirely to blame, with the transfer window two summers ago being key to their downfall. Crook posted:
“Understand Southampton owner Dragan Solak is concerned by the club’s poor start to the season.
“Russell Martin will inevitably get the most scrutiny but surely has credit in the bank from last season. I’d argue recruitment going back to when they were relegated has fallen short…”
Martin revealed to reporters after the Bournemouth game that he was angry about the first-half performance and admitted that there were “bigger problems than he thought” after being questioned over his team selection.
Southampton Recruitment Has Set Them Back Years
The Saints have been wasteful with money
Southampton’s recruitment at the start of the 2022/23 season was nothing short of terrible, in hindsight. The Saints brought in a relatively inexperienced goalkeeper in Gavin Bazunu to jump from League One to the top-flight, whilst players such as Armel Bella-Kotchap, Sekou Mara, Duje Caleta-Car and Juan Larios were bought in.
| Southampton’s Premier League statistics – Results so far, 2024/25 season | ||
|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Venue (H/A) | Final score |
| Newcastle United | A | 0-1 |
| Nottingham Forest | H | 0-1 |
| Brentford | A | 1-3 |
| Manchester United | H | 0-3 |
| Ipswich Town | H | 1-1 |
| Bournemouth | A | 1-3 |
Bazunu remains at the club though he is now second-choice behind Aaron Ramsdale, and wasn’t anywhere near Premier League quality in the relegation campaign as a youngster who needed to learn the division. Meanwhile, Bella-Kotchap has only played in 10 games since the start of last season, Mara departed for Strasbourg after just four league goals in 50 games and Caleta-Car only played 13 league games before joining Lyon.
Their only solid signings were Romeo Lavia from Manchester City, who was flipped to Chelsea for a huge profit, whilst Joe Aribo and Samuel Edozie have been solid enough on the south coast.
Their January signings that season were even worse. Mislav Orsic was highly-billed but became an absolute flop after just one league appearance saw him move on, Paul Onuachu has only made 11 league appearances with no goals after coming in as a top striker, James Bree has been a bit-part player and Kamaldeen Sulemana hasn’t impressed at all so far with just two league goals in 43 games.
GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Southampton only got 25 points in their previous full Premier League campaign.
It’s light and day away from this summer’s signings, with young, cheap yet talented English talent being sourced alongside former England stars in Adam Lallana and Ramsdale – but as Crook states, the backfall from the transfers two seasons ago could be their downfall.
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