Mauricio Pellegrino has certainly challenged himself with his first Premier League job and the role he's taken as boss at Southampton has proven to be a testing experience for the former Liverpool and FC Barcelona centre-half.

The Saints dismal start to the 2017/18 campaign continued with an unenjoyable trip up to Stoke City last weekend, which they lost two-one and leaves the south coast outfit in a dissatisfying 12th spot in the top-flight table.

Steven Davis, one of the longest serving players currently in the Southampton first-team having arrived in 2012, is the captain of this unexceptional team and has had his say on the fixtures which follow the international break this month.

Pellegrino's men face back-to-back home outings as Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion become the visitors to St. Mary's, and a trip to fellow south coast counterparts Brighton & Hove Albion ds the month of October.

''It’s massive. We need to try and put a run of results together''

Southampton have endured a torrid run of matches in the Premier League over recent weeks; defeats to Manchester United and Stoke City means Steven Davis and his team-mates approach the international break downhearted by their domestic careers and may feel an improvement is required to climb into the top-half.

''We’re not where we’d like to be at this stage of the season after the games that we’ve played'', skipper Steven Davis said about the measly eight points on the board from seven league games.

Mentioning how individual and team performances have relatively been an upgrade on last term's displays, the 32 year-old explains how the players need to match their effort with the final result after ninety minutes, “Performances as a whole have been of a decent standard but results haven’t been what we wanted and it’s important we marry the two together.”

Southampton have been, however, applauded for their dominant displays against most opposition this season, including Manchester United where the manager thought his Saints were deserving of at least a draw.

Ultimately, the problem has lied with the attackers as the squad have struggled to find the back of the net on far too many occasions so far this campaign. Mauricio Pellegrino has switched and changed his striking options with Shane Long currently emerging as his preferred forward choice over Manolo Gabbadini and Charlie Austin.

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