MANAGER Russell Martin insisted there are "loads of positives" to take from Southampton's 3-0 defeat to Manchester United on Saturday.

Erik ten Hag's Red Devils hit a quickfire double in the first half after Saints forward Cameron Archer saw a penalty saved.

The miss altered Southampton's fortunes completely as they failed to register another shot on goal, except for Archer's weak follow-up.

Martin is confident his side are trying their best and believes they can turn things around after four consecutive defeats.

He said: "I don't think we just started really well, I thought we played really well for 30-odd minutes. We were the team that looked most likely to score.

"I loved the performance, the aggression, the intensity in it. Some of the football we played was great. We didn't make the most of it and then we missed a penalty.

Southampton conceded three goals for the second game in a row.Southampton conceded three goals for the second game in a row. (Image: Stuart Martin) "It completely changed the energy of the game. We didn't respond well enough to that and in that moment United took some control and capitalised.

"We conceded two terrible goals from set plays. It's the only thing I'm really angry about today. The lads are trying so hard. They're giving everything they've got.

"There's some brilliant moments that need to come to more. I think if the moments we have in their box in the first half, if we have their players, I'm pretty sure it's a goal.

"It's a different game (after the penalty). You get to half-time and we can maybe re-energise the players a bit. In the second half, both teams were wrestling.

"They had some good moments. They've got some top players. We had a lot of guys at the top end of the pitch that were tired."

Jan Bednarek has signed a new three-year dealJan Bednarek has signed a new three-year deal (Image: Stuart Martin) Saints made a quadruple change on 62 minutes, withdrawing Archer, Tyler Dibling, Ben Brereton Diaz and Lesley Ugochukwu.

The decision to replace Dibling was met with boos from the home fans after the 18 year old performed well on his first Premier League start.

He saw an effort saved by Andre Onana before being tripped just inside the box to win a penalty - which Archer missed.

"Tyler, on his first Premier League start for us, got cramp - that's why I took him off. I didn't want to take him off either but he was struggling," Martin explained.

"There are loads of positives, Tyler's performance was one of many. Ben's travelled back from Chile and looked tired. It was Archer's first start, the penalty miss took a lot of energy out of him.

"Mateus probably stayed on the pitch a bit longer than we would have hoped for because he's been away and not played yet either from the start.

"We made four changes and I quite like the look of the team again. I thought there was some energy back in the performance and then we have Jack sent off.

"After that, it's damage limitation. I thought we did quite well to limit them to not that much and then we conceded in the 96th minute which I'm annoyed about."