Image source, Getty ImagesBrentford have won their last three Premier League games against Southampton without conceding, and have won both of their last two home games against the Saints 3-0.
The latest episode of BBC Radio Solent's Goin' Home With Adam And Jo has arrived. The boys discuss an eight goal thriller against Cardiff in the Carabao Cup and the impending signing of Aaron Ramsdale.
Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
Image source, Getty ImagesSouthampton boss Russell Martin following the Carabao Cup win over Cardiff: "I’m really happy with the win and I’m pleased for my young players. But there is also a lot to be annoyed about.
"We conceded three goals and the game descended into chaos in the second half. It was a moment of brilliance for their first goal from a player I have admired for a long time (Rubin Colwill), but we took our foot off the gas and dropped to their intensity.
"That was a big learning curve for the younger players. They took some liberties in the first half and they will be better for the experience. They showed real grit."
Image source, Getty ImagesThe draw has been made for the Carabao Cup third round, with 17 Premier League clubs having made it through or entering at this stage.
There are three all-Premier League fixtures, including holders Liverpool hosting West Ham in a repeat of last season's quarter-final.
Ties will be played in the weeks commencing 16 September and 23 September.
All the fixtures featuring top-flight sides are shown below:
AFC Wimbledon v Newcastle United
Arsenal v Bolton Wanderers
Brentford v Leyton Orient
Brighton & Hove Albion v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Chelsea v Barrow
Coventry City v Tottenham Hotspur
Everton v Southampton
Liverpool v West Ham United
Manchester City v Watford
Manchester United v Barnsley
Preston North End v Fulham
Queens Park Rangers v Crystal Palace
Walsall v Leicester City
Wycombe Wanderers v Aston Villa
Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?
What did you make of your team's performance, Saints fans?
Come back to this page on Thursday to find a selection of your replies.
There are eight Premier League teams in action on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup and BBC Sport will bring you all the action and reaction.
And listen to BBC Radio 5 Live match commentary of Nottingham Forest v Newcastle on BBC Sounds
Dan George
BBC Sport
Image source, Getty ImagesRussell Martin says Southampton's business this summer has been good for the "long and short-term future of the club".
Saints have signed 11 new players to their squad so far and also turned loan deals for Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Flynn Downes into permanent transfers.
"We’ve done good business this window," Martin said.
"18 months to two years ago in the January window, it was very much about spending money for here and now because we need to stay in the Premier League.
"We all agreed we wouldn't do that and potentially put the club in a dangerous position down the line. We have made signings for now and players who are going to also be really good over a long period of time."
Back in that January 2023 window Martin referred to, Southampton broke their transfer record and signed winger Kamaldeen Sulemana for a fee of over 20m.
They also introduced Paul Onuachu and Carlos Alcaraz, with the three having made just 104 appearances between them since signing.
"I'd love to go spend £25m-£30m on one or two players, of course, but we knew we wouldn't be doing that and this is the situation we're in," added Martin.
"I don't lose any sleep over that because we're all aligned and we have real clarity in what we're doing."
Dan George
BBC Sport
Image source, Getty ImagesSouthampton boss Russell Martin has said he was resigned to losing defensive star Kyle Walker-Peters this summer but is now "really relaxed" about his situation and confident he will stay.
Walker-Peters shone last season, making 47 appearances across both the Championship and the FA Cup as Saints were promoted to the Premier League.
"I think he's going to be here," Martin said.
"All the interest that was there and the deals that might have happened have pretty much gone, unless someone thinks really late doors that they want Kyle.
"We've offered him a new contract so maybe that'll be another discussion to come. Everyone's really relaxed about it. It's a bonus to have him here, to be honest, because I think we all resigned ourselves to him leaving the building."
The 27-year-old signed for Southampton from Tottenham in 2020 and has made 169 appearances for the club.
This season he has started both Premier League games against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest.
As transfer deadline day looms, what do Southampton need to do before it's too late? Or are you happy with where things are up to?
Image source, Getty ImagesThe draw for the third round of the Carabao Cup will take place on Wednesday at the conclusion of the second-round tie between Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United.
The seven English clubs involved in European competitions this season, including holders Liverpool, will enter at the third-round stage.
Ties will take place on weeks commencing 16 and 23 September.
Because there are rounds of Champions League and Europa League fixtures also scheduled for those two midweeks, the six clubs involved in those competitions - Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester United - will be kept apart to ensure they can fulfil their Carabao Cup tie in the alternate midweek to their European fixture.
Those six clubs will take part in a pre-draw before Forest v Newcastle to decide if they will be at home or away in the third round, with a main draw determining the 16 ties later in the evening.
Should Chelsea progress to the next phase of the Conference League, they will not be in action in that competition again until the start of October.
West Brom have rejected Southampton's bid of about £10m for 21-year-old winger Tom Fellows. (Telegraph - subscription required), external
Want more transfer news? Read Wednesday's full gossip column
Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist
Southampton boss Russell Martin has been speaking to the media before Wednesday's Carabao Cup second-round tie at Championship side Cardiff City (kick-off 19:45 BST).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Martin confirmed that Adam Lallana is back in the squad, while Ross Stewart and Kamaldeen Sulemana have returned to training. The Saints are now "close to having a full clean bill of health".
After his post-match comments on Saturday about Southampton not having the same quality in attack as Nottingham Forest, Martin said: "[It was] not a slight on our players or our club. Forest is in a different place to us."
He added: "If you look at what they have spent on Anthony Elanga, [Callum] Hudson-Odoi, Morgan Gibbs-White, it is a lot of money. We're just in different places. It is up to us to stay in the league long enough that we can then be in a place to do the same thing. We have to do it differently."
On rumours of former Saints midfielder James Ward-Prowse, now at West Ham, being for sale: "Prowsey is one of many players in the Premier League who could do a job for us. Does that mean he will come? We have a lot of midfield players so it is not a position we are trying to recruit in - so I don't know [if we would try to sign him]."
After two defeats in the league to begin the season, Martin said that "every game is as big as the play-off final and we need to approach it in that way, but I am confident we will".
Martin confirmed there will be changes for the game against Cardiff: "It is an opportunity for players to play in our way, to be the team we want to be against good opponents. Any opportunity you have to play you can’t take for granted. I want to win. I want to beat Cardiff."
On new signing Lesley Ugochukwu, who will start the game: "He needs to be the guy, needs to be the king in the middle of the pitch. He needs to dominate it is as much as he can as that are of the pitch is a big responsibility for us. I'm sure there will be brilliant bits and some we need to work on and learn from, but it will be great for him to feel that and be on the pitch."
On getting transfers right: "We have done good business. Not just for now, but for the short and long-term future of the club. A couple of years ago it was about spending money for here and now to stay in the league. This time we haven't done that. That has been agreed by us. We're not just going to go all in for one season and put the club in a difficult position further down the line."
Follow the rest of Tuesday's football news
Ray Hunt
Fan writer
Russell Martin’s possession-based approach has come under the microscope again as Southampton fell to two defeats from two, despite having the league’s highest possession average (70.5%). But still we remain goalless.
What’s more concerning is the lack of chances created, and the repeated turnovers, particularly in the most recent outing at home to Nottingham Forest. Despite having 65% of the ball, it only yielded one shot on target, highlighting our lack of creativity and that we are still missing that key ingredient in the final third.
Another compelling stat to magnify the pedestrian build-up play is an average of 128 passes per shot showing a lack of ideas at the business end of the pitch.
Things at Newcastle were somewhat easier to digest. With more efforts at goal and we tested the keeper on a number of occasions, but the main caveat being, we played against ten men for the best part of an hour, which masked the issues.
Martin was asked pre-Forest game about our transfer plans as the deadline approaches. He said: "We would expect us to still be busy towards the end."
He was also quizzed post-match and said: "I think we need to add some help in the attacking third. If there was a difference today, I think that’s it."
With the arrival of Mateus Fernandes to bolster the midfield and the goalkeeper situation hopefully coming to its conclusion, our priority should now be adding firepower up front to this goal-shy squad.
If we have any hopes of surviving in the top flight, home form must improve to stop a repeat of our ill-fated 2022-23 season, where a lack of goal-scoring opportunities hampered our campaign resulting in just 36 goals scored and just two home wins the entire season.
Any success we aspire to have hinges on this window. The fans eagerly await.
Find more from Ray Hunt at the In that Number podcast, external
Southampton have sent a new offer to Corinthians as they look to recruit 23-year-old Brazil striker Yuri Alberto. (Fabrizio Romano), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column
We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Southampton and Nottingham Forest.
Here are some of your comments:
Southampton fans
Tom: Very disappointing. Forest fully deserved their win. They were much faster out of the traps than we were. You cannot afford to let teams bully you in the Premier League, which Saints did in the first half in particular. The midfield was worrying and it offered little help going forward or protection for the defence.
Trevor: Armstrong and Brereton Diaz are both out of their depth at this level. Archer looks like he could maybe cut it but, with Onuachu out of favour and Stewart permanently injured, we have to sign a couple of proven goalscorers or we are going to set a record for the fewest goals scored in a Premier League season.
Steve: Totally underwhelming. We had no threat whatsoever. We sign a centre-forward and play him out wide? We continue to play Championship and League One players in Stephens, Bednarek, Smallbone and any goalkeeper we have, so what do you expect? Something has to change or else where do any positive results come from?
Anthony: After this performance, another creative attacker is needed as well as a goalkeeper. We looked good going forward but we didn't create hardly any chances. Credit to Forest, they deserved the win and defended excellently. Walker-Peters and Sugawara were brilliant for us. Tyler Dibling was our best player, despite only playing 10 minutes. Onwards and upwards.
Forest fans
Ian: A vital win against our relegation battle rivals. We were clearly the better side but scoring goals will be the undoing of us if we can't get that killer second goal. There was a familiar uncomfortable panic at end, but this time we got away with it. If we convert more chance into goals, we might stand a chance of breathing more easily this season.
Mark: Excellent football at times, we just needed a little bit of luck with the final part of our forward moves or better selection for the final pass. Elanga was very dangerous. Milenkovic and Anderson did well, as well as our main driving force Gibbs-White. Excellent result. A good start to the season.
Kris: With the amount of chances we created, it should have been more comfortable but that is splitting hairs. Milenkovic was class on his debut, he is exactly what we have needed at the back. We do lack some thrust up front but the club is working on that. If this was a school report it would be a B+ - a solid start with room for improvement!
Neil: We looked good in patches. Defensively sound, but not sharp enough in front of goal. Yates gave some impetus when he came on, but it was sloppy defending and sloppier attacking from Southampton that gave us the three points. If Forest get a decent and fit attacker, we should be fine. Fingers crossed!
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Southampton striker Jo Tessem believes the Saints will have to "learn their trade" again this season but says manager Russell Martin could also "learn a few little things" to help his side adjust to the "intensity" of the top-flight.
Speaking on Goin' Home with Adam & Jo, Tessem said: "The difference from last season to now is that you are going to meet better teams all the time. These teams are not afraid of coming to St Mary's because they already know how it is.
"Nottingham Forest already have that experience of coming up and surviving in the Premier League. They weren't scared of us.
"One thing that upset me quite a bit, as a football player, is how many bad passes we made against Forest. There were a lot of situations where we passed it badly, when the players weren't under pressure, and that worries me.
"Two mistakes can cost you a game and this shows the difference between the Premier League and the Championship. Teams you will play against will defend for their lives. They are much better defenders and much more clever in the way they play football.
"I agree that you have to learn your trade in the Premier League. Against Newcastle United, we created four very good opportunities - that is the other side of it - we have to learn to take those but that comes with confidence.
"We didn't have one good opportunity against Nottingham Forest and that is the worrying bit. I think there are a few little things Russell Martin could learn. He needs to learn about how to be smart and take the opportunities when you have players in the right positions."
Image source, Getty ImagesSouthampton midfielder Will Smallbone says the defeat to Nottingham Forest at St Mary's Stadium was "frustrating" but believes Saints have shown they can "definitely compete" in the Premier League this season.
Speaking to BBC Radio Solent following the 1-0 loss, Smallbone said: "Coming into the first home game back in the Premier League, we really wanted to go out there and put in a good performance for the fans, so they can really get behind us.
"In the first half, we probably didn't play exactly how we wanted to. We didn't give the fans that performance. In the second half, we definitely played more like a game we played last season. We turned the game into how we wanted it to look.
"It's just frustrating that we turned it and then conceded a goal from a set play, which is something we are massive on [getting right]. It is a goal we will have to look back on and review.
"But we have shown in both of the games this season that we can definitely compete with these teams. I think it's now down to us, as the players, to give the fans something to get behind.
"There are definitely signs going forward that we can stick together and have a positive season."
Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician
For all Southampton’s dominance of the ball against Nottingham Forest, they had just five shots to show for it… averaging 128 passes for every shot they had.
Meanwhile Forest made the most of what possession they had as they took 23 shots – the most they’ve had in a Premier League game since being promoted.
Gary Lineker presents highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures.
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