Hasenhuttl urges Adams to keep believing drought will end

After a run of four goals in eight games earlier in the season, Adams has now gone 11 matches without scoring for Saints, since netting in the 3-0 win over Sheffield United in mid-December.

The 24-year-old can count himself slightly unfortunate during that run, particularly in the last two matches where he has seen efforts ruled out for offside.

But Hasenhuttl conceded the striker has not looked at his best in recent weeks.

“Like all the other players, I’ve seen him better, for sure,” Hasenhuttl told the Daily Echo.

“We miss the goals from him and from Ingsy (Danny Ings) at the moment. This is a little bit of a problem.

“Sometimes when we have chances, we cannot finalise. But it’s all about believing in what you are doing, working on your decision-making and don’t struggle too much about ‘what if I don’t find the target?’

“Try to find it and try to create chances and try to be there where you can earn something and the more often you come in those situations, the higher the chance that you score.

“It’s also my job to bring them in this position that they come more often in this situation where they can score.

“Although I can guarantee you against Wolves now on Thursday it will be very difficult because they don’t give you a lot of chances. They are very compact, very deep-sitting, deep defending, so it will be a hard fight, hard work for maybe 120 minutes to score there. This is possible.

"When we have a chance, and we won’t get a lot I think, then we must be very clinical."

Adams last season endured a 29-game run at the start of his Saints career without finding the net, before breaking his duck in stunning fashion against Manchester City.

Asked if this recent drought is weighing on Adams’s mind, Hasenhuttl said: “It’s always a problem for a striker when he doesn’t score. I remember I also had some parts in my career where I couldn’t find the goal!

“But then suddenly you don’t think about it and you score every game, so it’s crazy.”