RALPH Hasenhuttl is refusing to blame poor fortune for his side's recent struggles, insisting: "Luck is for me never a parameter for winning or losing."

Controversial VAR calls scuppered Saints in their home defeat to Aston Villa, while Danny Ings struck the inside of the post during Saturday's narrow loss at Newcastle.

But Hasenhuttl refused to buy into the idea that his side had been unlucky.

"Luck is for me never a parameter for winning or losing," he said.

"When you concentrate on the luck you do or don't have, then you are not a really good manager.

"I have a quote that fits better I think, 'if you have always luck, you're good. If you have always bad luck, then you're not good'.

"I think this is key. Always unlucky is not a good team. Always lucky? There is some reason why the good teams are always luckier because they have quality and they force the luck and this is what we have to do."

He added: "I'm a person who immediately tells the players it's not about luck. We must always take care to work on our game and make sure we affect games in every possible way.

"The last thing we are moaning about is how we are so unlucky, or everybody's against us or the referee. That has never been our topic and it will never be in the future as long as I am sitting here.”