Ralph Hasenhuttl says Saints will need to be “very honest” with themselves during the international break if they are to turn around their declining form.

The 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea was a hugely disappointing afternoon where Saints were barely able to compete with Frank Lampard’s side.

There were worrying signs for Hasenhuttl as the individual errors which have dogged Saints in recent times returned, while the manager also admitted his team were not competitive enough across the pitch.

With a two-week break between games the Saints boss is focussing on how he can turn things around with his team hovering just above the bottom three.

He said: “It was a very disappointing afternoon.

“I think like always this season the first chance is a goal against us at the moment and that doesn’t help us massively to perform better.

“I think you can lose against such a strong side and that is ok, but what I was really disappointed about was the mistakes we made in the first half.

“If you invite them to score then you don’t have to wonder that they do it.

“We must be very honest and truthful to ourselves because otherwise we lie to ourselves and say we play better and at the moment we are not better.

“We know we have to have a very good performance if we want to take something but at the moment we are far away from a good performance and this is something that is really disappointing for me.

“It doesn’t care about shape or something else, it is the fact they show you every weakness in your game and every one against one duel you lose and you see how strong and competitive they are in the moment and we are not. This is exactly what we want to work on in the next weeks.

“The games don’t get easier so we must do it much better than at the moment because at the moment we are far away from getting something.”

The Carabao Cup win at Portsmouth is the only victory surrounding three Premier League defeats and for Hasenhuttl it’s not good enough.

“When you don’t take points or wins then you start to struggle a little bit and confidence goes down but it’s not enough to win one game against a League One team,” he insisted.

“In the Premier League it’s different and then you see how good you have to play to take something.

“At the moment we are not quick enough in our mind, we are not disciplined enough in many situations and then against strong teams you don’t have any chance.”