Mauricio Pochettino said his players "dressed up as Santa Claus" to gift Tottenham a 3-2 win at St Mary's.

Saints have picked up just two draws from their last six Premier League games heading into Christmas after a disappointing defeat.

The Saints boss was clearly seething with his team over the loss and said: "It was very frustrating. We are very angry about the result.

"We actually dressed up as Santa Claus today and gifted them so many goals and so many chances.

"We started off quite well in the first half, we got the 1-0 and we were very close to getting the 2-0 but then when we conceded the equaliser it was very hard to get back in the game, especially in the second half it was very tough."

He added: "We are going through a very tough time at the moment.

"We are lacking a lot of our players, we are lacking a full squad, players are going through different illnesses and injuries and we are conceding a lot of goals.

"I am concerned about the situation because our main focus now is to regain that defensive solid to get back to how solid we are defensively."