Why have Southampton conceded the most goals in the Championship?

In fact, only Wrexham have conceded more across the Football League (14), while Doncaster Rovers and Crawley Town have also conceded 12 goals - the same as Saints.

It should be pointed out, however, that those other sides mentioned have all played one game more than the St Mary's outfit.

At present, Saints are not operating like a side gunning for automatic promotion when assessing their attempts to prevent their opponents from scoring.

The teams in the Championship who have conceded a similar number of goals to Saints all rank in the bottom five of the table.

With back-to-back home fixtures against two of the most in-form sides in the division - Leicester and Ipswich Town - on the horizon, those issues will need to be sorted.

If Southampton continue to leak goals at the current their current rate, they will have conceded 110 times by the end of the Championship campaign.

While that is an extreme metric, especially given its unlikely nature and the small sample size so far this season, it does clearly highlight their defensive frailties.

Furthermore, three of the 12 goals Saints have conceded so far this season have come within two minutes of scoring themselves.

That has been a sticking point of frustration for Russell Martin, who has insisted that those goals are down to his players' mentality rather than any tactical issues.

"It will be down to mentality," he noted, speaking after their 2-1 win over QPR. "There is no tactical or technical reason for it.

"The goals are all different. It's down to attention. We will eradicate that."

The former Scotland international will also be hoping that his team can eradicate the goals which result more directly from their mistakes. 

Southampton's high-possession style is very fluid. Players will often drift out of their traditional positions in order to offer a passing option to their teammates.

While this positional movement is crucial in dominating possession and playing through opposition defences, it can leave players out of position when the ball is turned over.

In the example below from Southampton's' comprehensive 5-0 loss at Sunderland, that issue is highlighted.

A poor attacking corner gives Sunderland the opportunity to counter. Saints defenders attempt to recover, with Ryan Manning eventually filling in at centre-back as the ball is switched out to the right. 

However, there is no defensive player at left-back, where the immediate danger stems from.

With no support behind him, Stuart Armstrong is forced to stand the attacker up rather than close him down. That gives Trai Hume the license to deliver a dangerous cross. 

Waiting in the wings is Jack Clarke. The Black Cats winger is being marked by Sam Edozie instead of the defender Kyle Walker-Peters. He makes the most of isolating the Saints attacker and climbs highest to head the hosts into the lead on 54 seconds.

This is an issue that should be ironed out with more time training under Martin - this month's international break will offer a good opportunity to do that.

In addition to players being out of position, Martin's high line also leaves them at risk of surrendering chances on their goal when they lose the ball.

Southampton's lack of recovery pace - none of their defenders are particularly known for their speed - could influence teams to exploit this area more regularly.

While none of Sunderland's five goals came from breaking in behind the high line, they did still have a lot of success creating opportunities that way.

In the series of images below, Tony Mowbray's side converted a turnover into a chance in just eight seconds.

Having received a poor ball from Jan Bednarek, Charly Alcaraz is immediately dispossessed by Pierre Ekwah.

Dan Neil retrieves the loose ball and sets his attention on trying to release Luis Hemir behind the Southampton back line, who are positioned just inside their own half.

The young Portuguese forward takes advantage of the large gap between Manning and Walker-Peters and races in on goal.

Southampton's recovering defenders only get close to him once he has slowed down in preparation to shoot.

While Hemir's effort was ultimately saved by Gavin Bazunu, Saints may not have been so fortunate had the opportunity fallen to a more clinical number nine.

Norwich were also able to exploit the high line to create chances in their 4-4 draw at St Mary's, as seen in the example below. 

Jack Stephens stepped forward to beat Ashley Barnes to the ball, but in doing so handed possession back to the away side by knocking the ball into Christian Fassnacht's path.

The Swiss international replied with a first-time ball out to Josh Sargent on the wing.

American international Sargent is then left one-on-one with Bednarek while his teammates recover. Also making a burst towards the Norwich box is Fassnacht.

Sargent cuts the ball back to his Canaries teammate, however, in this instance, Walker-Peters is able to track back in time to prevent the Norwich attacker from scoring.

Goalkeeper Bazunu has come under criticism from some sections of supporters for what they perceive as being at fault for a few of Southampton's conceded strikes.

Martin has been quick to defend the Irish international, admitting he is annoyed for Bazunu at the number of goals he has conceded this season.

When looking at the goals prevented metric on WyScout, Bazunu ranks second bottom (26th out of 27 goalkeepers) in the Championship with -4.08.

What that essentially tells us is that the 21 year old has conceded four more goals than he should have.

What the data perhaps doesn't take into account, however, is the lack of support he has received from his defenders at times.

While he will have been disappointed to allow Ekwah's second goal to go in at his near post, Saints could have leaked more goals had it not been for Bazunu.

The lack of defensive support could be seen in case and point for Sunderland's fourth goal.

Having pulled off a good point-blank save to deny Bradley Dack and push the ball out wide, Bazunu's defence failed to clear the danger.

Sunderland recycled the ball into the box with a low cross from Abdoullah Ba. Mason Holgate swings his foot to clear but fails to make contact, allowing Dack to tuck home.

While there is some early cause for concern, as illustrated in this piece, there is plenty of time to sort those issues out.

The arrival of Andreas Georgson has already had an effect on Saints' organisation at set-pieces.

One might look towards Martin's track record at Swansea City and MK Dons, two clubs where he conceded a similar number of goals to the total his side scored, as further reason to worry. 

That would be a fair point to make, but he is now working with better players than he has done previously.

Let us not forget that this is just five games of a 46-game Championship season.