Defence is fine - but passing is well short

Analysing a match he described as "minging," manager Gordon Strachan said: "To sum us up properly, at the moment the back four are playing well and the strikers are doing alright.

"When the midfield defend, they get eight out of ten, but when we actually have the ball, we are only producing three out of ten."

Having shuffled his pack already this season, Strachan left flair man Fabrice Fernandes out of the 16 on Saturday, but admitted Saints were still selling themselves short in the middle of the park.

What concerned him most was his midfielders' continued failure to do the simple things well.

He said: "It's an individual responsibility to be able to pass the ball ten or 15 yards - with pressure or without it.

"You may laugh but, if you actually analyse a game and watch the number of times ten-or-15-yard balls go astray, it's quite frightening.

"I've got maybe eight or nine good midfield players.

"I think they're good and I'm just desperate for them to start playing.

"Believe me, we work on it every bloomin' day.

"I thought we weren't brave enough in the first half. We flicked at things instead of bringing it down.

"We were playing blind balls when we could have got hold of it. The second half we got a bit better, but it still wasn't great.

"We're a hard team to beat, but we're not scaring anybody in terms of beating our opposition."

Although Strachan will continue to try and coax the best out of his midfielders, he believes they've got to start helping themselves.

He said: "Great players can make that ten or 15-yard ball look simple, but we have to work on it and it comes down to concentration and taking self-responsibility.

"A sports psychologist might say there's be a problem with that psychologically. Well, tough - there's a lot more pressure out in the real world.

"All you're asking is for people to pass the ball ten or 15 yards and be brave enough to bring it down.

"That's a lovely pressure to have."