REPORT: Southampton Coach defended Gavin Bazunu after fans moan.

Russell Martin, the manager of Southampton, stated that Gavin Bazunu was unworthy of the criticism he received from the fans of his team during Tuesday night’s Championship loss to Hull. It was Southampton’s first home defeat in five months, falling short 2-1.

Anass Zaroury, a Moroccan player on loan from Burnley, scored into the net after Jaden Philogene’s strong drive was parried, giving Hull the lead in the eleventh minute.

Twenty-five minutes later, Fabio Carvalho doubled the lead for the visiting team. From the edge of his six-yard box, Bazunu threw a pass to Joe Rothwell, but Philogene dispossessed the midfielder and Carvalho, a Liverpool loanee, scored. This particular piece aroused the wrath of

“There was a lot of moans at Gavin (Bazunu) when he did stuff with the ball but it’s not on him and he was outstanding when he actually had people to pass to,” Martin said in his post-match press conference.

“I really understand the frustration around the whole place but the crowd were amazing in the second half and really stuck with us.

“When you’re not brave enough, it looks disjointed and a bit messy. We have faced that [high press] a lot of times. We went man to man against them and they went with it against us.

“The difference was they were completely all-in and we weren’t. We have a setback early and don’t respond to it. We lacked the courage to be the team we needed to be.”

Southampton’s unbeaten home record was not extended, despite Joe Aribo’s goal in the 88th minute to give them a point back. Southampton ended a 25-match winning streak in all competitions last week when they fell to Bristol City.

The Championship season has seen 33 games played. Southampton is now in fourth place, two games behind Leeds, who hold the second automatic promotion slot, but 11 points behind leaders Leicester.

“The first half was rubbish,” Martin continued.

“The second half was very good but that doesn’t matter very much when you’re 2-0 down.

“No one cares if you play well in the second half when you aren’t good in the first half and are behind. Hull were good but we knew that from the first game.

“[Joe Aribo] was outstanding. Jan Bednarek was incredible. I thought Gavin Bazunu was brave in the second half and the subs had a good impact on the game.

“Kyle Walker-Peters and Ryan (Manning) were also very good in the second half but we didn’t get them on the ball enough in the first.

“We had a good chance with Rothwell before they can get into the game, we don’t take it, and somehow that doesn’t spur us on to go more aggressive.

“Their goal is something we worked on in training yesterday as we’ve seen them do it a lot, so to allow that to happen is absolute nonsense.”