FRUSTRATED Ronald Koeman was left ruing the same old story as Saints fell to a fourth successive Premier League defeat.

Saints were beaten 1-0 by Burnley, but again largely shot themselves in the foot after dominating possession and having 19 efforts at goal compared to their hosts’ nine.

It was their mistake which gave Ashley Barnes the chance to score the only goal, while they wasted several good chances, including a Dusan Tadic penalty which was saved by Tom Heaton.

Koeman said Saints’ confidence might have taken a hit ahead of tomorrow’s League Cup quarter final at League 1 club Sheffield United.

“Of course I am very disappointed,” he remarked after Saints had lost four top flight games in a row since the start of 2012/13.

“Maybe the same story and you can make football very difficult. I don’t like to do that because it’s a simple question.

“It’s the same story a little bit as the last few games.

“We play well.

“The start of the game was difficult and they start a little bit better, play direct football and battle the second ball, and after 20 minutes we controlled the game.

“We didn’t create a lot in the first half but from the start of the second half until missing the penalty we played great football. We had the best chances and total domination in the game and I waited for the goal.

“We had chances to kill the game on that moment and one mistake, because I call it a mistake because it’s our throw-in and it ends in a goal for Burnley is disappointing.

“That means a lot in receiving a goal because that’s not the first time, and that is what I am saying with keep it simple, why we don’t win today, why we don’t win against Man United and why we had a row of winning games.

“It’s all about scoring, chances and more mistakes in defence and that’s the difference - not about organisation, not about the way of playing.

“Maybe it’s a little bit about confidence now, that’s possible, after the four defeats.”

Saints were well beaten by Manchester City, were a little unlucky against Arsenal, but should have beaten Man United, with these errors now occurring too often for Koeman’s liking, and costing them points.

“Maybe sometimes in the game you see more difficulties in our ball possession. I saw that in the first 10-15 minutes, but that was how they pressed and they had an unbelievable spirit in the team and that was difficult,” he reflected.

“Normally if you come through the beginning of the game it will be more quiet and then you need your quality but then you have to score and those are the problems, why we don’t win.

“In the last two games we had more chances. Man United had three shots on target, I don’t know how many they (Burnley) had but less than what we had and we lose.”

Koeman though stuck up for the effort of his team, insisting they matched the spirit of Burnley.

“It’s one of the qualities what they have and they play different football than we play,” he said.

“We like to build up, we like to keep ball possession, they play very direct.

“It’s difficult to defend because that means it’s a lot of battles, a lot of second balls and we have different players.

“We played out of our qualities, they play out of their qualities. It’s a different way of playing, nothing more.”