Europeless...and now you’d better believe it, Saints
UNDER-FIRE Mark Hughes admits the days of Southampton challenging for Europe are over.
Saints finished in the top eight for four seasons in a row and reached the Europa League qualifiers in 2016 before only narrowly avoiding relegation last term.
But manager Hughes (right), who is getting stick from Saints support after their poor start to the season, said: “I have never been one that tried to lower expectations, and I don’t think fans want to hear that.
“I will talk about reality and the reality is that we were 17th last year and we are not going to make a huge leap from 17th to seventh or sixth. I think that is unrealistic.
“I think we have more than enough capability of being a top-10 side if we start getting points on the board sooner rather than later. But we have got to accept we are in a group of teams who are very much like for like.
“And on any given day we can beat them or we can be beaten on a different Saturday.
“I don’t think there is a significant difference between all the teams outside of the top six in my view.”
Saints host fellow strugglers Newcastle today looking for only their second home Premier League win in ELEVEN months. Hughes has told his players they need to find a way to lift their home hoodoo to avoid becoming dragged into another relegation dogfight.
He added: “We need to get rid of it because it is talked about every week, and until we do something about it and get it out the way it is not going to change.
“We are very conscious of it and the longer it goes on the more of a bugbear it becomes.
“We have had opportunities in the past and have not taken them.
“So it is about time we stepped up and got the job done.
“It is about dealing with momentum when teams are having a go. You have to keep on disappointing them and keep knocking them back.
“That is the key for me, we have to manage the game.” Lascelles to score the first goal