Rival boss hails Leeds United player but explains lack of bid to sign him and eyes up Whites boost

The lunchtime kick-off between the Saints and Whites will mark a tenth Southampton game in charge for new boss Martin who departed Swansea City to take up the role on the south coast this summer. Martin enjoyed two years in charge of Swansea where the 37-year-old benefitted from the services of striker Joel Piroe who netted 44 goals in his 92 games under Martin as Swans head coach.

Ten games into his tenure as Southampton boss, Martin will now find Piroe on the opposite side in today’s showdown against Leeds as United’s summer signing takes in his sixth game as a Whites player following his summer switch to the club from Swansea.

Piroe has already netted four times for Leeds and his instant success has come as no surprise to Martin who has hailed the striker’s talents but insisted his new side never looked at making a move for Piroe themselves.

Martin says his own side’s attacking options meant there was no need to and the Saints boss now hopes that a knowledge of Piroe’s game can work in his side’s favour come today’s lunchtime showdown on the south coast.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Martin was asked if Piroe was someone he had looked to bring with him to Southampton and mused: “He's an outstanding player. He was never a player that was an option for us because of the other options that we have up front. So would I have wanted him? Yeah, I loved working with him.

“He is a great, great character, a really top finisher, he understood and bought into everything we wanted to do. We had had a tough start to life me and Joel and when we made it really clear what we expected of him, he was amazing for us.

“It's no surprise to me that he's one of the best strikers in the Championship, he's one of the best scorers in the Championship. It's no surprise that he has started out how he has.

"We have people on the pitch who know him very well so they know his game so that will hopefully help us. Would he have added to this group and helped us at some point? Yes. Was it ever an option? No, because we've got brilliant options here that we're really happy with and we ended up signing one (Ross Stewart) that I think will contribute hugely when he is back fit.”

Martin enjoyed a fine start to his tenure as Saints boss by bagging ten points out of an opening possible 12 but Southampton have since lost four on the bounce. Martin, though, has highlighted how his side are still only three points adrift of sixth-placed Leeds with whom the Southampton manager has drawn comparisons with on the style of football front.

Pressed on what it would mean to beat Leeds for his side, Martin reasoned: "I think whoever we were playing, this is an important game for us. I actually think the size of the game, both teams relegated, the following they will bring, I think it's a really good game. It'll be a good game of football. Two teams who are trying to play a fairly similar way I think.

"They had a slow start and now really got into it, we had a good start and slowed down a little bit but we are three points off them and it will be a huge day for us if we win. But we need to see a performance that looks more like us.

"We have been slowly building the last two games, we should have had more points than we have in the last two games, there's no doubt, there's been very little in the games. But because of the moment we are in and the period we are in, we are on the wrong side of the results.

"I think when you're playing really well and winning games and you don't quite reach the level, you still manage to find a win somehow. We haven't done that so it's time to bring a level of performance that we haven't for a couple of weeks in terms of intensity and aggression and I think we'll get more of that.”