Southampton boss Russell Martin reacts to his side’s 3-2 home defeat to Liverpool
Russell Martin reckons his Southampton team gifted Liverpool victory on Sunday. But he believes they should have been awarded a second-half penalty.
Mohamed Salah struck twice in the second half as the Reds came from behind to earn a 3-2 Premier League win on the South Coast on Sunday afternoon. Dominik Szoboszlai had given Liverpool the lead before goals either side of half-time by Adam Armstrong and Matues Fernandes had put the hosts in front.
And Martin admits he was unhappy at the manner in which defensive errors allowed Szoboszlai and Salah to score before a handball from substitute Yuki Sugawara invited the latter to net the winner from the spot with seven minutes remaining.
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“My overriding feelings are the frustration and disappointment that the goals we conceded were so poor,” said the Southampton boss.
“Liverpool have such quality and if they produce moments of magic or score a brilliant team goal, you can maybe accept it a bit more. But the quality of the goals we conceded was so bad, so bad.
“I enjoyed the performance, it was much better than at Wolves in terms of an attacking threat. We were playing against the best team in the league and limited them to a lot of shots outside the box.
“I asked the guys to play forward as fast as we could and that was the wrong time to do it (for the second goal).
“That’s on me – I asked them to do it. For the first goal panic sets in, Flynn Downes just hits a clearance, the second goal is about the thing we spoke about a lot (before the game) about protecting the space for Salah.”
Martin added: “We had some really good moments and most of our good moments came from taking the ball and being encouraged to play through it.
“We have such a young team on the pitch as a whole, they are growing and learning. The only way to learn is to have moments like this and get through it. It wasn’t for a lack of competing, desire and fight. The guys feel they are so close.”
While there was controversy surrounding the first-half penalty which led to Armstrong scoring the rebound after his initial shot was saved by Caoimhin Kelleher, Martin was adamant Southampton should have had a chance to go 3-1 up when the Reds goalkeeper collided with Armstrong inside the area after the interval.
“We should have had a penalty on Adam Armstrong,” he said. “I don’t know what they will say but VAR went to have a look at it.
“If the goalkeeper comes out and Adam is trying to play the ball and misses the ball and affects his run, at that point it’s a foul. My definition is it is a foul. It’s given as handball after the contact by Adam. But my understanding is it was a penalty.”
