RALPH Hasenhuttl admitted Mohammed Salisu’s own goal – a turning point in the 4-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur – was “simply not good enough at this level”.

The Saints boss watched on as the promising 23-year-old centre-back turned into his own net in agonising fashion, while trailing 2-1 in the second-half of the opening day.

Saints begun to get a foothold early after the break and looked as though they could find a leveller, following goals from James Ward-Prowse, Ryan Sessegnon and Eric Dier.

However, their good work was undone when Emerson’s low cross was turned into Gavin Bazunu’s net by Salisu – who had got himself into a twist on the goalline and attempted to use his goal-facing left foot to clear.

“This is individual quality. Like in the first goal where Kyle (Walker-Peters) is not there to defend a cross and we have situations like this (own goal),” Hasenhuttl said, at full-time.

Daily Echo: Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl (Pic: PA)Saints manager Ralph Hasenhuttl (Pic: PA)

“Normally we cannot concede a goal here. It’s easy to clear with the right foot. This is simply not good enough at this level.”

He continued: “Obviously, it is not easy to stop these things, but we’ll work on it. We’ll work on finding solutions for the guys and help them to have clearer decisions.

“We know the Premier League shows you every weakness and we know it is tough to defend here but we will find a way to do it better than today.”

Antonio Conte's Spurs have one of the most dangerous attacks in the league, are Champions League opposition and will be looking to make a mark on the title race this season.

But the rout in the capital means Saints have conceded 34 goals in their last 13 Premier League matches, winning only once dating back to the beginning of March.

Despite six new signings and three new coaches before a new season started, the Austrian’s side slipped back into the same mistakes.

“We are still not able to have a clean sheet for example in the first game and it would have been far away today being honest,” Hasenhuttl added.

“We tried a different way of defending. We've often been criticised for the high pressing with people saying that it doesn't work for 90 minutes or whatever.

“But the fact is that we are also deep defending not completely safe because we have enough players in the box for the first two goals, we’ve got an imbalance in shape and we’re still able to concede and this is not good.”

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