THE VERDICT: The final word on Southampton's 1-1 draw with Burnley

They need to go into the matches against the teams around them looking to win, rather than trying to avoid a defeat. It might seem a risky tactic but Burnley was proof that it might be dicier to try and play containment football.

To stay up they need victories, getting points in batches of threes rather than odd ones here and there.

In fairness, Saints have looked better since the turn of the year.

They have picked up a modicum of momentum, seemed a more coherent unit, even if one understandably lacking in confidence, and results have slowly improved. You can understand why they might be reticent to gamble.

But then they turned up at Burnley and put in an underwhelming display, until they went positive at the end.

It felt like a wasted opportunity because, make no mistake, Burnley were there for the taking. They were so short on confidence and belief, still shorn of key attacking players, and looked every inch a team ten games without a win.

Their tactics, their set-up, was so predictable, and yet Saints played into their hands.

Not for them was the daring to attack, to venture forward, to go for a win when there was a slim chance it might leave them exposed.

Maybe a point is not a bad result in context, but if that is what it seems you are aiming for from the start there is not a lot of margin if you get it wrong. Saints so nearly did just that too.

The team lacked intensity, and Mauricio Pellegrino, so often criticised, occasionally harshly, for being too conservative, acted once behind and just about got away with it.

The game had been there for the winning for Saints, ready to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck, and yet it was allowed to meander on, seemingly towards a goalless draw.

It was only once Burnley had taken the lead that there were positive changes from the bench, and then a little more positivity in the play, and eventually an equaliser.

To solely blame Pellegrino when he made just one change to a winning team would be unfair, but it was his positive substitutions and the seeming freedom of being behind that pushed Saints to find a goal, which surely is a pretty big hint.

The first half was a turgid affair, devoid of any real quality.

Burnley were prepared to play direct at virtually every opportunity, while Saints were concerned with dealing with that threat and didn’t show a lot of confidence in an attacking sense themselves.

Johann Berg Gudmundsson had Burnley’s only chance worthy of the name after just four minutes, which was not an indicator of what was to come for the remainder of the half, but he headed wide from Stephan Ward’s cross.

Aaron Lennon threatened twice for the Clarets, but had one shot routinely saved by Alex McCarthy and another blocked by Oriol Romeu.

Aside from Nathan Redmond’s effort from distance straight at the keeper, the nearest Saints came was Dusan Tadic hitting a curler with the outside of his left boot, but Nick Pope made the save.

The second period was largely as woeful, and again chances were thin on the ground.

Barnes headed wide from Ashley Westwood’s cross when he should have done better but made up for it when he bagged the opening goal.

It seemed that if Burnley were going to break the deadlock it would have to come from sort of messy scramble as there was little chance of a moment of quality doing the trick.

Sure enough Burnley managed to create that set of circumstances.

Cedric Soares allowed Lennon the chance to lift in a cross with his right foot that went all the way to back post and a side footed volley by Gudmundsson.

McCarthy made the save and pushed the ball out to Jeff Hendrick who headed back towards goal, where Barnes threw himself at it, got there just in front of the Saints keeper and turned it home.

The introduction of Josh Sims from the bench finally added some urgency to proceedings for Saints, and he produced a moment of magic that had previously been lacking and so nearly bagged an equaliser.

Guido Carrillo found him with a ball inside and Sims jinked on to his right foot and curled a shot from just inside the area that Pope dived to his left to turn onto the outside of the post.

The newfound positivity eventually led to a very late equaliser.

Referee Bobby Madley had a significant and inadvertent impact as he positioned himself poorly and blocked off Ashley Westwood from simply walking the ball clear and it allowed Nathan Redmond to collect and press forward.

He played it out to Sims on the right, and a deep cross found the head of Carrillo. He did a great job to guide it back from the by-line to another late sub, Manolo Gabbiadini, who took a touch to control and then smashed home an instinctive half volley.

It was reward for getting on the front foot, for being brave enough to try.

Saints need to remember that, and not just do it when chasing a game.