SAINTS defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis believes Russell Martin could lose “10 in a row and he’ll never change” – and insists that is what he admires about the manager.
Harwood-Bellis, 21, has been taught the Manchester City philosophy of dominating possession in games.
Because of the influence of former City CEO Jason Wilcox and Martin, the England youth captain joined Saints in the summer, intending to make the move permanent.
Saints must be promoted in order to exercise their option of permanently signing Harwood-Bellis from the English champions, but they are now 11 games unbeaten.
Harwood-Bellis complimented Martin for instilling confidence in the team, but maintains it would be the same even if they were losing games.
He told club media: “What I love about the gaffer is we could lose 10 in a row and he’ll never change because that’s the way he believes football should be played – the lads do as well.
“In those four games that we lost on the spin, there was no one saying, ‘I think we need to change what we’re doing’.
It was, ‘We need to do what we’re doing more’, because we weren’t doing it properly. There are no disasters, no crises in our heads, we just look forward to the next game.
“I think the past 11 games have shown, barring the second half against Rotherham and Huddersfield, the way we want to play works, and we will dominate.”
Harwood-Bellis continued: “There will be times when we’re under the cosh and teams are pressing us, and I think you feel it in the stadium as well.
“Fans might want us to get it forward quicker, but it’s not going to happen, because that’s not how we’re set up. It’s good to have the backing from the manager.
“Even mistakes, he’s not bothered, because that’s how he’s asked us to play. It’s impossible to play how we’re going to play and not make mistakes.”
Harwood-Bellis conceded: “It’s just about minimising them, which I think we have done really well.”
Leave a Reply