Southampton manager Russell Martin explains the detailed preparations his squad went into ahead of their penalty shootout win over Everton at Goodison Park
Southampton manager Russell Martin has praised his players to standing up to the Goodison Park roar and revealed that the squad had been planning diligently for the possibility of a penalty shootout in their Carabao Cup tie with Everton. In what proved to be Goodison’s last-ever League Cup tie, the Blues suffered an eighth defeat out of their last nine spot-kick deciders on home turf, bowing out of the competition the same way they exited against Fulham last season and for the second time in such a manner against the Saints.
All 10 of the regulation penalties were successfully converted but with the shootout going to sudden death, James Bree held his nerve only for Everton’s sixth effort from substitute Ashley Young to be saved by Alex McCarthy. Martin said: “I’m really pleased for the guys. We did a lot of work on penalties at the end of last season because of the play-offs.
“We did a lot of research on it, the approach to it, and I just reminded them of a bit of that work really when we spoke before the penalties. We practised them the day before in case it went to penalties and everyone took one.
“You still have to have the courage to do it in front of a crowd that is roaring. So I’m really proud of them, I’m grateful to them for staying brave, and I think they did that all night.”
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The 38-year-old often cut a frustrated-looking figure on the touchline but he was glad with how his team triumphed against adversity. Martin said: “I’m really proud of the players. My frustration is never with their intention, it’s just missing moments where I feel we could play forward and stuff like that.
“I understand what we’re asking the players to do is so tough and they do it with so much courage and conviction and intensity so I’m really proud of them.
“I’m really happy. I don’t feel frustrated, I feel really proud of the performance because we responded brilliantly to a setback which is what hurt us on Saturday, we had a setback missing the penalty and a 15-minute spell was terrible and it cost us the game.
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“We had a setback here but they responded brilliantly. They stuck at it, they puffed their chests out and were aggressive. I wanted to play forward a little bit more at times but we were playing against a team that make it really difficult, they press well, they’re compact, and I saw a lot of things I liked.
“In the four games we’ve had, we haven’t had a result yet but I feel better about the Premier League than I did at the start of the season. The moments we’ve had in those games, we’ve hurt ourselves a lot and much of that is down to anxiety and fear of the Premier League for some of the guys going into it for the first time and some being hurt by it last time.
“I feel like we are going to grow through that and we just need that first result. Once we get that, I’m really excited about what the group is capable of achieving because we’re a young, hungry group willing to do brilliant things and try and do the things we’re asking them to do which is play with real aggression and courage all the time and live and die by the sword really.”
The tie pitted two teams who have lost all their Premier League matches so far this season but despite Everton manager Sean Dyche making eight changes to his starting line-up, it was Martin who made 10 that was able to shuffle his pack successfully in the end. He said: “The guys work hard together so we have a big group, too big probably in an ideal world. But we try and keep everyone motivated and we train in a certain way that reflects what we want to do on a Saturday and is related to them and what they’re going to do.
“It’s why a lot of guys can step in like they did here. It’s great for them with a lot of them playing their first game for us.”