Mark Hughes has defended Saints’ set-piece record and insists they will put right the small details that have cost them a couple of goals recently.

Saints conceded direct from a corner at Anfield last time out and leaked a goal from a free kick in the previous match against Brighton.

That has led to criticism of Saints’ zonal marking system, but given man-to-man marking has its flaws as well, Hughes thinks it is just the little details that have gone awry.

He said: “We are in fine margins when you talk about set plays.

“We have been defending corners in the same way since I walked in the door.

“There was a stat at the end of last season that we defended something like 54 corners in eight games and we conceded one against Bournemouth.

“Every way you go in terms of set plays and one element of zonal or man marking, each of those ways of dealing with set pieces has its weaknesses and its strengths and then you are dealing with fine margins.

“You look at the goal they (Liverpool) scored when Jannik (Vestergaard) just doesn’t quite get out to (Joel) Matip you are talking a matter of inches but that’s the margins and the level we are playing at.

“We talk about things, we review things, we give guys feedback and give them understanding of what they need to do in similar situations next time and that’s all part of the process of learning and getting better as players.”

Certainly it’s an area where Saints will need to tighten up for tomorrow’s trip to face Wolves.

If it’s not the system at fault then it seems logical it must be the execution of the system, but Hughes has backed his players.

“It’s just details,” he insisted.

“We conceded at the weekend and maybe we got our blockers a little bit wrong and that’s just what can happen in the heat of the game. You need to be able think clearly and where the greatest threat presents itself.

“We can set things up in training and if that’s not exactly the same scenario you have to be able to think quickly on your feet and readjust and there have been a couple of occasions where our blockers maybe haven’t done the job asked of them.

“We have been guilty sometimes of marking as a blocker rather than getting in a position and making sure you disrupt the run of runners to the centre of your box.

“Those are the details that if we get right we will be fine.”