I cannot remember a feeling in the crowd so dispirited as the one I witnessed at St Mary's Stadium on Wednesday evening and that includes some of the darkest moments in the club's history, action has to be taken and now.
At times in our past we have witnessed some dark days at Southampton Football Club, we have seen some poor teams and some poor performances, but none so in such a manner as the way we gifted Chelsea an easy victory last night.
I have stuck by Russell Martin when he was criticised by some last season and I urged those to do the same in the early games of this season.
But we have been watching a team that has no leadership, it is being forced to play a possession football game to a level that it is not capable of and that has lead to countless mistakes where possession has been easily conceded and goals given away that really should have been avoided.
On the opening day our goalkeeper gifted Newcastle the only goal of the game when he tried to play what should have been a simple ball out of defence or if he was not confident a clearance and here we are 4 months and 13 games later doing exactly the same thing, the goalkeeper trying to play a ball when under pressure and being compelled against his basic instincts to play a ball that is not really on.
That is the frustrating thing, if this squad had been allowed to adapt the managers tactics, then we would be at least 6 points better off and with a good chance of staying up, rather than finding ourselves 7 points adrift of safety.
Last night was perhaps the last straw, with so many out injured or suspended and with a team that was missing it's 3 best players so far this season and a team that had only 3 or 4 players in it that would be in the side if everyone was fit, you would have thought that Russell Martin would have adapted to suit what was essentially a second string side playing a team that was 3rd in the League.
But no ! from the start it was clear that the team had it's instructions and that was to pass the ball along the back whatever the situation, no one seemed to feel that they could go against the manager's mantra and clear the ball even when under pressure.
It truly didn't have to be like that either last night or for that matter in most of the 13 games that preceded it in the Premier League.
If the manager had adapted his tactics to suit the occasion, then we would not be in the mess we are in now.
But he has not adapted, he has pursued with his suicidal football and showed a stubborn streak that good managers do not have, one that says that there is only one way to play at all occasions.
There are those that say that next season Russell Martin will be a good manager to have in the Championship, that may well be, but if he takes us up, then we will be in the same position that we are in now, a manager who cannot adapt.
Last night the Southampton fans could take no more, the stuffing has been knocked out of them, they could not find the spirit to hurl abuse at the team or the manager, they showed it with their feet, with 10 minutes to go the ground was emptying, even those that stayed had mainly had enough of it when the 5th went in on 87 minutes and the sight of around 3/4 of the home sections empty for added time must surely have made a point to those in the club making the decision on Russell Martin's future.
The message now is simple, Russell Martin either has to adapt or he has to go !
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