STEVE WIGLEY knows his number one task in the days ahead - to instil some belief back into his beleaguered side.

Saints' head coach saw his team put in a spirited first half display to hold Manchester United but seven minutes after the re-start Paul Scholes gave the Red Devils the lead and Saints' confidence visibly drained.

From that point on United could have scored a hatful and it is that shaky belief that Wigley feels is vital to improve if his team are to get out of the bottom three.

He said: "At the minute it is absolutely paramount for people to believe in themselves.

"When you're in our position in the league that's not very easy.

"What we have managed to do in previous games was come back but they had too much quality for us to do that.

"We lacked a little belief in possession and that's why we didn't get at Manchester United.

"When you come here nobody goes for their throat but you have to be compact and when you have the ball pass it.

"We just didn't do that well when we had the ball.

"It's difficult to take anything from the game. We've been beaten 3-0 and, although people didn't expect us to win, you come here as a team thinking you can take something out of the game.

"So the only thing I can have on the way home is a lot of thoughts and a lot of disappointment."

On what seems a weekly basis, the spotlight inevitably turned on Wigley's position as head coach and he admitted the hardest thing was to stop the players being distracted by the rumours.

"That's the hardest thing but the one thing I have tried to do is not to bring my situation into any debate," he said.

"I've just got to concentrate on getting the team right and making sure my situation doesn't affect them."

Saints have taken just nine points from Wigley's 14 league matches in charge - one win, six draws and seven losses.

That record has led to sections of the Saints support pleading with chairman Rupert Lowe to make ANOTHER managerial change - though if Lowe did so this week Saints would instantly have had more managers than league wins this season.

Speaking of the latest defeat - which means Saints have only picked up two points out of a possible 18 away from St Mary's this season - Wigley added: "We've come to Old Trafford at the wrong time - if there is ever a good time to come here.

"They're on the back of six straight wins and we knew it would be a difficult game, but I believed if we went and applied ourselves like we did against Arsenal we could get something.

"But we have fallen down on lack of concentration and once we did go a goal down the belief seemed to drain out of us.

"I don't think you can be presumptuous here because they have so much talent.

"We felt in the first half we'd done our job other than we hadn't passed the ball well enough when we did win it.

"I felt we had to go and do that better second half but unfortunately we conceded a poor goal when we had two or three opportunities to clear it and then they really came alive.

"What we've managed to do in the last few games is that when we've gone behind we've managed to come back and dig in and fight and start to play.

"At Old Trafford, against arguably the best team in the country, you don't get second chances."