Saints are going to require a sharp upturn in fortunes after the international break to prevent their season from descending into a dogfight.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and you never really know how costly a below par run of form will be until the end of the campaign, but there is currently every reason to fear that, come January 1, Saints will be looking over their shoulder.

Having now completed 11 top flight matches, almost a third of the season, they have faced just one of the traditional top six sides, and what’s more played seven matches at home.

From here things get harder. And fast.

After this fortnight of respite Saints hit a run until the turn of the year that sees them take on all of those big six clubs, with five of those matches away from home.

While there are a few more winnable games in there too, the pressure on those could make life excruciatingly difficult if matches against the top dogs don’t produce some surprise results.

It’s not to say Saints are incapable of causing a few shocks, of course they can.

Last season under Claude Puel they put in some really good performances against the division’s top six. This season they played very well against Manchester United.

However, ultimately they did end up on the losing side in those fixtures.

It was highlighted here that after a stuttering start to the campaign the four match run – home to Newcastle, West Brom and Burnley with Brighton away also in there - between the October and November international breaks looked crucial if Saints were to have ambitions of seriously challenging in the area of the table they target.

We surmised that probably about ten points was required. Saints picked up five, winning just one of those games.

Given how tight the division is proving then it is fair to say a good run of form could quickly turn things around. Likewise, a bad run of form would suck Saints into danger.

It would be unfair to get carried away and say that Saints are in trouble now, but they are going to have produce some unexpected results, and therefore vastly improved performances, to avoid worrying about it entirely.

The discontent around St Mary’s at the moment is palpable.

While there is a fear among pessimists that Saints are sleep walking towards trouble, there is no such complacency in the stands.

The supporters are, on the whole, not happy.

The frustration of last season has boiled over into this campaign, and Mauricio Pellegrino was booed for both his substitution of Manolo Gabbiadini and when he walked down the tunnel after the Burnley loss.

It’s not exactly the kind of reception you would hope for after just 11 games in a new job.

The pressure really is on now. Whether you believe this is his fault or he is just victim of circumstance with what he has inherited at the club – which would require another ten pages to describe in detail – he is front and centre of it all.

His insistence that Saints played fairly well against Burnley further infuriated some supporters.

Upon reflection, you could understand where he was coming from.

Saints were a little bit better, they did show more attacking promise in spells, and they were trying to do things like stretching the play out wide and get round the outside. That was better.

Burnley showed virtually no ambition for the majority of the game, and it was Saints who were clearly on top for the most part.

That’s all fair enough, and, if you are attempting to take positives, it was a small step forward.

However, it wasn’t so much better that it didn’t have to be combined with a win, which it wasn’t.

There is much whispered comparison now with Saints’ Premier League relegation season, with all those winnable home matches slipping by in the early part of the campaign before a real slump came and left them in trouble.

Most realists would predict that Saints are not going to find themselves in that world of trouble, but there are some parallels.

Saints were downed by Burnley courtesy of a goal from a fan of the club.

Southampton born Sam Vokes held off Maya Yoshida to angle a header from 12 yards out into the bottom corner with nine minutes to go at St Mary’s.

His introduction, along with that of Ashley Barnes as Sean Dyche changed up his front two, proved to be the decisive moment of the game, while Pellegrino found himself criticised for a like for like replacement with Charlie Austin replacing Gabbiadini.

Saints had been on top for much of the game, and were a particular threat either side of half time.

Nick Pope in the Burnley goal made saves from Sofiane Boufal, Ryan Bertrand and Nathan Redmond as Saints built up momentum to take into the break.

They started the second period in a similar fashion with a host of half chances that didn’t find the target, while Maya Yoshida’s superb shot on the turn required a good save from Pope.

With Saints starting to get well on top and Burnley, for the first time, looking ragged and offering space between the lines, came the two substitutions which wrestled them back into it, and set up the route to victory.

It’s a route that Saints need to discover very quickly.