SAINTS’ FA Cup-winning captain Peter Rodrigues believes the current crop of players need to show some backbone – but made it clear Ralph Hasenhuttl is still the right man for the job.

The professionalism of the St Mary’s side has come into question after their humiliating capitulation against Leicester on Friday evening.

And Rodrigues, who knows a thing or two about character, believes that’s exactly what Saints are missing on the pitch.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, he said: “They’ve got off to a bad start this year, but he is the sort of guy who can change that.

“It was a heavy defeat, but the manager is doing the best he can with what he’s got available.

“The character has to be shown by the players. When things go wrong, there doesn’t seem to be any strength within the side.

“They need somebody to get a grip. Once the manager sends them out there isn’t much he can do.

“You need a strong character on the park to be aware of what’s going on. I feel there’s nobody there to do that.

“They seem to be going through the motions.

“The players let him down and by donating to charity shows it a gesture of guilt.”

As previously reported by the Daily Echo, Hasenhuttl maintains the full backing of majority shareholder Jisheng Gao and chief executive Martin Semmens.

It doesn’t get much easier for the manager and his players due to back-to-back trips to Manchester City, starting with tonight’s Carabao Cup clash.

Despite a poor start to the season and a record loss, Rodrigues is certain the club shouldn’t be looking for a new boss any time soon.

“People can say to change the manager but when I heard him speak for the first time, he sounded good and I wish him well,” added Rodrigues.

“I think he has got a lot of character. He turned Saints around when he arrived.

“They need to get out of their current situation, that goes without saying, but I feel as though this manager is strong enough to fix it. He needs to be strong with the players.

“It’s unfortunate that they’ve got some really tough games coming up.

“When they went 3-0 down against Leicester, somebody needed to stop and say, ‘We need to stop this because we don’t want to be embarrassed’, but no one seemed to do that.

“Hopefully they aren’t in that situation against Manchester City.

“He [Hasenhuttl] needs to get his players in the right frame of mind. You can’t disregard the Leicester result, but you have to be positive.”