RALPH Hasenhuttl has addressed the declining attendances at St Mary’s.

Their campaign at home started with 31,172 fans inside the ground to watch the defeat to Liverpool.

That crowd was then beaten for the St Mary’s clash against Chelsea, with 31,573 turning up for that one.

However, a run of poor results, mixed with winter and it being near Christmas, saw just 27,701 supporters inside the stadium for the West Ham game last weekend.

“I think at home when you show up and when you create a lot of chances they [the fans] are there and they support you," explained Hasenhuttl.

“But it’s always on us to do it.

“It’s a little bit different at the away games, where the fans are very positive from the first moment and support us in a different way.

“The difference between the home and away fans, you can feel it.

“We really try to give both the best we have to make them happy and to make them proud of us.

“I know we haven’t done in that often in recent times, we had a few good games at home, but also a lot of not so good ones.

“This is normal that the support is maybe not on the highest level."

In spite of this, Hasenhuttl believes the best way to help the team on the pitch is to get behind them and stay patient.

Saints' manager added: "If you want to be successful together then it’s important to give the guys patience and credit for the hard work they do.”