MATTHEW OAKLEY admits he can sense a transformation in the atmosphere at Saints following his 15 months on the sidelines.

The midfielder came through his first Premiership match since September 2003 when he lasted an hour of Saints' goalless draw with Charlton on Boxing Day.

His previous match in the top-flight came against Middlesbrough when Gordon Strachan was the manager and the club proudly sat fourth in the Premiership.

At the time, Saints had made their best start to a season in the Premiership and were also still in the UEFA Cup following the FA Cup final appearance earlier in the year.

But this time Oakley has returned to a team with just one win from 16 league games and an increasingly frustrated St Mary's.

"There's a different atmosphere," admitted the 27-year-old.

"The lads are still together but it's difficult when you're getting beat.

"We were passing teams to death at home but now teams are coming and having more possession than us. They never used to do that - even the big sides.

"We were beating the likes of Liverpool and Man United here but at the moment we're not even beating the lower teams.

"We need to start performing at home and taking it into the away games.

"At times when the ball's bouncing around you have to make the right decision. Sometimes people can slash at balls and it goes back in the air and stays in the box.

"You've got make certain decisions when you're in a position like this to turn defeats into draws and draws into wins."

Oakley knows Saints are fighting for their lives, but he believes there is enough character at the club to survive.

"It is somewhere that I've been before - we've got the character to get out of it," he said.

After their first clean sheet for two months in the goalless draw with Charlton, Harry Redknapp's men are determined to build on that defensive base to make things difficult for Liverpool at Anfield today (4.30pm).

"Liverpool is a difficult place to go but we have to get some confidence from somewhere," said Oakley, below.

"They're obviously not as great as they used to be, but at Anfield they can hit you for quite a few goals.

"They'll be looking for silverware this season and we're fighting for our lives at the moment so we'll go there and be solid and will have to work harder and see if we can nick a result.

"It's a massive game for us and if we can get another clean sheet then even a draw would be a massive result for us.

"Then we have Man City and Fulham and we need to look at those games to start picking points up.

"But Liverpool's a hard place to go and they'll be up for it.

"We've got to defend first and hope our boys up front can nick a goal."

Oakley was a surprise call-up to the first-team on Sunday and admitted it had taken longer than he wanted to find the pace of the game.

"For the first half an hour I was tired," he said.

"It was hard getting back to the speed of the game and your legs go solid on you.

"I probably looked a little short of pace but as the game went on I started to loosen off and get going. Sixty minutes was enough for me and was a big step."

After a second more minor operation on his knee, Oakley says he now feels recovered from his injury.

"In the last three or four months I've been training with pain and to train on Monday and Tuesday without pain was a strange feeling for me," he added.

"The manager then came up to me after Tuesday and said I was going to play on Sunday if I was ready.

"You have to get on with it and suddenly I was in a Premiership game again when I didn't think I would be for another two or three weeks."