Once again it was a case of deja vu, we did the same things and made the same mistakes and got the same result, when is this all going to end, enough is enough, are we going to sleepwalk to the lowest points total in Premier League history or are we going to change something !
There wasn't much arguing about the starting line up, not many Southampton supporters would have picked a team much different given the players available, but that is just about the only good thing you could say about this game.
Saints started brightly and had a couple of good attacks before Villa really got going, but then after a good start they shot themselves in the foot, in truth they got lucky seconds earlier when Joe Lumley played a short ball as per the possession football handbook, but he played in poorly and only some good defending kept the ball out, Lumley grabbing the ball must have thought im not doing that again and drop kicked it forward, something definitely not in the possession football handbook.
The ball was played back forward by Villa and it should really have been dealt with, but Taylor Harwood-Bellis instead of clearing the ball under pressure stuck to the handbook and tried to play his way out of it and was caught out and we were 1-0 down.
The rest of the game followed a pattern most Saints fans will know well, some puzzling substitutions and getting away with a few things.
What epitomised this game and indeed our season was late on as Villa counter attacked and really should have put the game to bed, the ball went across the goal and Kyle Walker-Peters got their first, he was closed down on the dead ball line inside his own six yard box, surely it would be hoofed but KWP stuck to the possession football handbook and turned back towards his own goal.
Only one man in the entire ground could not see what was happening, that man was Russell Martin, in his mind the only thing going wrong is that his team are not following his instructions to the letter, if they were then his possession football game would be working, the blame lies with the fact that his players are not following instructions, it is no fault of his own.
If you are Pep Guardiola with the best players in the world then you can stick to the game plan, but for every other manager it is about adapting your tactics to suit the players that you have to hand and setting up the possession game to get the best of what you have to hand.
Russell Martin once again showed no sign that he has is going to try and other solution to get his team out of the mire, other than demand they stick to his instructions.
I would say that it its time that Martin goes, but the truth is that point was reached about 4-5 games ago, Russell Martin has been given more than a fair chance to prove he is the man for the job, but cannot or will not change and adapt and that is not the sign of a good manager.
His team selections have become more erratic and more desperate, he ignores some players and tries those that have never done anything for the club such as Sulemana.
To be honest I am getting sick to death of it, this is Ian Branfoot all over again, but the exact opposite in terms of style of play, both managers have the same trait, that of believing that they have to stick to their style of play come whatever.
That was in 1994, yet here we are in 2024 over 30 years later in the same situation, back then we did not have the internet, the fans had to make their protests physically at games, that does not happen these days, but rants on social media achieve nothing in football.
So what will happen next, I would have hoped that by the time i write this as 3pm on Sunday afternoon that something had happened, but it hasn't, perhaps it is still a bit soon after the game and if we are to make the change we have to have a successor in place, so I am not overtly concerned.
Russell Martin is shell shocked, he cannot change and does not know what to do next, he will point to the transfer window and say we can fix that then, but that will be too late and to be blunt given the lack of game time for most of the summer signings, I wonder about his ability to judge a player.
Yes the club recruiting system will identify players, but the manager has the final say and Martin cannot seem to see the good from the bad in a player, we let the likes of Shea Charles and Sam Edozie go and bring in Maxwel Cornet & Lesley Upgochukwu.
Cornet has managed just 6 minutes more Premier League football than Edozie's 65 minutes before he departed for Anderlecht on loan.
I could write more, but the truth is I have been saying it all before for the last 3 months and nothing has changed, I am writing the same match verdicts virtually game in game out and that perhaps tells you something I am seeing a manager doing the same things and making the same mistakes.