Will Still explains where Southampton went wrong at Hull City amid apology to fans

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Will Still continued his stuttering start at Southampton as his side fell to a 3-1 defeat at Hull City on Saturday.

Goals from Kyle Joseph, John Lundstram and Oli McBurnie put Hull in the driving seat before Adam Armstrong netted a late consolation goal for visiting Southampton.

The 3-1 win meant that Hull recorded consecutive victories over Southampton for the first time in 74 years, leaving the Saints 19th in the Championship table.

Despite enjoying 71% of possession at the MKM Stadium, Southampton were toothless in attack, with Still issuing an apology to the travelling away supporters while explaining the areas where his side are struggling.

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Will Still says Southampton are ‘not believing that we can score’

None of Still’s Saints squad covered themselves in glory at the MKM Stadium, but Southampton fans were particularly frustrated by Finn Azaz after the £12m summer window signing from Middlesbrough was labelled “lazy” against Hull.

In defence, Southampton struggled to cope with the physicality and pressure from the Tigers’ attackers, with Taylor Harwood-Bellis gifting the ball back to Hull to create a counter attack for their second goal.

Up front, Damion Downs spurned a gilt-edged chance for the equaliser at one-nil after being slipped through by Azaz, but he failed to capitalise.

The defeat sees Southampton’s winless run in the second tier stretch to five games, and Still explained that his side were not good enough to earn anything at Hull.

As quoted by the Southern Daily Echo, Still said: “It’s really poor. We worked so hard on keeping a clean sheet last week, we worked so hard on the defensive aspects of things.

“So this week we wanted to keep that balance and work on what we do with ball, which in between both boxes was better than last week and was pretty good.

“But we’re not quite believing that we can score that goal and someone stick their hand up and just take a bit of responsibility and get it in the back of the net.

“We’re not making first contacts on the balls that do come in the box.

“And then we’re gifting goals and we should never be conceding that sort of goal but we are at the moment. That’s just where we’re at.

“It’s disappointing, it’s frustrating, but I’m sure it is for the fans more than me who have travelled all that way. Apologies.”

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Finn Azaz showed signs of improvement for Southampton despite Hull City loss

Southampton signed Azaz in the late stages of the transfer window from current table-toppers Middlesbrough.

After Azaz struggled for Ireland during the international break, he was unimpactful in the South Coast derby stalemate against Portsmouth, but did show signs of improvement against Hull.

Despite some Southampton fans sharing their displeasure with Azaz on social media, the attacking midfielder ought to have notched an assist for the equaliser if not for Downs’ profligacy.

Azaz created two chances at Hull, with an 86 percent passing accuracy and three passes into the final third.

£12m for Azaz will be a bargain for Southampton if the Ireland international can inspire their promotion back to the Premier League, and he will be even more desperate to bag his first for the Saints against his high-flying former employers on Saturday afternoon.