MAYA Yoshida believes Saints cannot regret failing to capitalise on favourable early fixtures – and simply must be ready to “fight” in the challenging run to come.

In the next ten games, struggling Saints face six of the Premier League’s leading sides.

Mauricio Pellegrino's men go in to these matches off the back of 11 games in which they face just one of the league's big guns, picking up just three wins.

Now they face the tough task of picking up vital points against top six teams.

After the miserable 1-0 defeat to Burnley at St Mary’s, a defiant Yoshida said: “We can try to find belief, but we can never regret.

“We cannot regret it now, we have to look forward and have to think about why and how we can change and improve.

“If we talk about what we should have done it’s too late.”

Pellegrino’s under pressure side have picked up five points from their last six games and shown little sign of progress under the Argentine boss in the opening 11 games.

Subsequently, the St Mary’s faithful have lost patience and booed Saints off at full-time following Saturday's defeat.

Yoshida said: “We’ve dropped so many points. We had to win against Brighton and Burnley. They are important three points dropped.

“We needed to win but then we have to fight again for the next fixtures, the tough fixtures.”

Saints’ poor run is deeply concerning for supporters, but Yoshida has a positive message and has again urged Pellegrino’s men to start finding the net regularly.

He said: “We have a good togetherness and a good squad. No one is stupid or selfish. But we need to change something.

“Football is about scoring, so if we don’t score we’ll never win. Scoring is the most difficult thing in football as well.”

Southampton-born Saints fan Sam Vokes netted for Burnley with the visitors' only shot on target at St Mary’s.

Yoshida was marking the towering Clarets man as he turned home a powerful header.

“I’m definitely frustrated,” said Yoshida. “In the first half we dominated a lot. Second half was a little bit difficult, I don’t know why but it was especially when they changed their strikers and played with two.

“We were unbalanced and they have only twice dominated us and to be honest the goal was very good.

“It’s not easy to head the ball like this. I tried my best but the ball was going backward and he got it technically very well.

“But, I’ve said it 100 times before, we need to score. Football is about scoring.

“I’m very frustrated but sometimes we have to accept and move forward. I feel much better during the game when we had the ball.

“We tried to create something with more thrill and it was much better than the last couple of games, I feel.”