Captain Jack Stephens highlights the need to improve defensive mistakes

After securing promotion to the Premier League, Southampton aren't having a good start to their season. In the three league matches, the Saints have faced defeats in all of them and are at nineteenth place in the Premier League. However, Russell Martin's side will be frustrated as they could have taken a draw in each of the three games by avoiding defensive mistakes. 

In the first game, Southampton dominated the possession and passing stats and had a good chance to win the game as well, following Schar's red card which saw Newcastle United down to ten men. Newcastle created only one good chance in the match and scored the goal to win the match 1-0. After that, in the Nottingham Forest match, Southampton couldn't find the back of the net despite creating several chances inside the final third. 

Captain Jack Stephens highlights the need to improve defensive mistakes

Moreover, the defence didn't mark Morgan Gibbs White on the opening goal as he scored into an empty net. Against Brentford, Southampton made two defensive mistakes which kept them away from taking any points from the away fixture. Now, captain Jack Stephens has highlighted that the Saints need to improve their overall performance, saying,

"Mistakes have cost us. And yeah, it's just fine margins with getting the result and it hasn't gone for us today. But that's on us and we need to make sure we're better and really push each other to demand more from each other."

- Jack Stephens

Southampton have this international break time to evaluate their mistakes and adapt to playing well in the defensive tactical setup. Further, the Saints have missed a few big chances in the three games, which needs to be improved as well. New signings Ryan Fraser and Maxwel Cornet are expected to feature in the upcoming games as Russell Martin's side need more pace and creativity going forward to score more goals.