The frustration for Saints fans after the first couple of months of the season is less that their team is making mistakes and more that it feels like they’ve been here before.

It just doesn’t seem that is well on board the Saints ship at the moment.

Perhaps it is partly that Saints and Ralph Hasenhuttl are victims of raised expectations.

The wave of optimism that swept over St Mary’s following Ralph Hasenhuttl’s arrival and the subsequent results the team produced to keep them in the Premier League brought about a hope that things were about to get much better.

But the reality of the situation was always likely to more grounded than that.

With very little in the way of squad change, it should probably be of a little surprise that results and performances are not all that much better.

Ultimately, it is the same group of players.

Indeed, without a summer signing to be seen in the starting line-up for the game against Chelsea, it was the same sort of team that was playing under Mauricio Pellegrino, only with addition of the quality of Danny Ings, and Mark Hughes. And the display and result were all too familiar.

That’s just where Saints are at the moment.

Hasenhuttl’s search for something different from within the squad by chopping and changing formations and personnel seems to have come to an end. But the reality of that is that it’s largely back to the same old.

It’s the same old that hasn’t worked before and doesn’t look much like working now, but what’s the alternative?

Some will argue that Hasenhuttl’s changes have unsettled Saints but there is no getting away from some of the individual errors that are costing them at both ends of the pitch and that a few key players are performing below their best.

It hasn’t been the easiest of starts for Saints in terms of their fixture list, but seven points from eight games is an average haul.

If you look at each game in isolation and try and decide what they probably deserved from it then you’d be hard pressed to argue it’s more than what they have.

It feels like the international break is a chance for some reflection and soul searching for Saints.

The run before the November hiatus has now taken on increased significance. If Saints are to try and give themselves a platform for a decent season and avoid another fight to stay up then it has to be much better.