Russell Martin suggests Leeds United fell into Southampton trap as Saints boss warns of play-off 'beasts'

The Saints took the lead twice at Elland Road on Saturday afternoon and held on to their advantage to take all three points back to the south coast. While points on the day were immaterial to Southampton's, and ultimately Leeds', final position in the Championship table, the approach employed by Martin and his players could prove troublesome for the Whites by the end of this month, should the two meet again in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.

Leeds face Daniel Farke's former employers Norwich City in their two-legged semi-final, while Martin's outfit take on Carlos Corberan's West Bromwich Albion. Southampton are unbeaten against each of the other three teams in the play-off picture.

"We tried something a bit different. It's worked quite well. We now have that up our sleeve if we want it, not necessarily going to be effective or useful to us [against] West Brom] but it was worth trying something today and it worked to suit the opposition," Martin told reporters following his side's double over Leeds.

"We made an educated guess on how we thought the opposition would press.

"Today because of the space that opened up we got there [Leeds' box] quite quickly," he added.

Farke's rebuttal was that Leeds needed to go for it if they were to stand any chance of automatic promotion and perhaps abandoned their defensive solidity to close down Southampton in their own third with scores of white shirts, which did produce Leeds' equaliser as Sam Byram turned over possession deep in the Saints' half before feeding Willy Gnonto whose low cross eventually found scorer Joel Piroe.

Martin intimated that he anticipated this approach and deployed a more vertical style, which saw Southampton play forward with pace and directness, particularly throughout the first half.

The Saints' coach also admitted he was forced into substituting full-back Ryan Manning at half-time with the summer recruit at risk of picking up a second yellow card and consequently missing the first leg of Southampton's play-off against the Baggies.

"We had some changes that were planned. One at half-time which wasn't planned and enforced because Ryan was on the yellow card and the crowd were on the referee's back and and their bench was and rightly so. I'd be the same probably. So, it was not worth risking Ryan for the second half when he was walking a tightrope.

"It's going to be intense and there won't be a day off now for a week or two, well after a bit downtime tomorrow, and then yeah, they'll train like beasts this week. They have to be ready to go again like beasts for another two weeks and hopefully another three weeks," Martin added, on his side's schedule for the remainder of the month.