SAINTS manager Ruben Selles reiterated his belief that the side are “Premier League level” despite another poignant defeat to relegation rivals.

Junior Firpo scored the only goal in a 1-0 win to seal a massive three points for Leeds United at Elland Road, as bottom-placed Saints visited the club just above them.

Selles’s charges were lucky not to lose by more and did not test Illan Meslier in the Whites's goal, just seven days after the victory at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge.

The result leaves them in 20th and now four points adrift of safety, with three points between the St Mary’s side and the next closest rivals.

Saints have now lost 10 games by just one goal this campaign. However, Selles, speaking after his first match as permanent manager of the club, was keen to calm concerns.

“You can see the point from different perspectives, for me it shows we are there. We are there in every game and we have the possibility to perform and win the game,” he said.

“We are not a team that is conceding a lot and is out of the game and therefore not competing. We are competing, we are there and we are Premier League level. We’re doing things and performing at that level, but what we want to do is give some kind of net for our players to feel comfortable and perform.

“Obviously what we need to do is make the net even stronger, with even more solutions. But this is down to me and is our responsibility, we are trying to create this net where they feel more comfortable.

“When you are making a process like we are building now there is going to be some errors. We need to be ready for the next step.”

Asked what he can say to supporters, who feel their 11-year stay in the Premier League could come to and without rapid improvement, he added: “I just say we need to keep working, we are doing good things.

“The week has been fantastic in terms of work but unfortunately we didn’t perform and we will need to do a review. I take responsibility, if we didn’t perform well it is probably because I didn’t explain all of my points and I need to do it better.

“It is not about how we are building a process for the long-term, any coach who comes in here would tell you the same. We need to build into the idea and grow to find the connections.

“Sometimes this is quicker than not, but we were not the best last weekend when we won and we are not the worst today. We are just a team that is continuing growing and sometimes to grow you need this kind of accident.”

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