Juric will be 'disappointed' if he cannot shape Southampton future

The 49 year old signed an 18-month contract to replace former manager Russell Martin in December with a potential relegation on the cards.

Juric has been unable to improve their terrible results and Saints remain bottom of the Premier League after eight defeats in his nine matches.

They are now 13 points adrift of safety with 12 games left to play and some supporters have challenged the idea that Juric could keep his job.

The Croatian wants to lead the side in the Championship and work towards being a "respectable Premier League team" again. 

However, he told the Daily Echo: "In this moment I'm disappointed. For the first time after the last game, I was disappointed of everything. 

Adam Lallana not involved for Chelsea tomorrow but could be back in the squad for the trip to Liverpool, Ivan Juric said.#SaintsFC pic.twitter.com/Q10KKX8BZZ

— Alfie House (@AlfieHouseEcho) February 24, 2025

"But after one day of staying at home, like I said, I'm angry and ambitious. I want to create something important even in this big difficulty. 

"We have to understand that we have to change everything. The style of thinking, everything. I want to start working from today.

"I want to work on this to create something important. If they want, if everybody wants to do it. If not, I will be disappointed. But this is the life."

Juric was "very down" after Southampton's 4-0 defeat to Brighton last time out - the club's eight successive home defeat in the league.

In the wake of the loss, Juric said his players were simply "not good enough" to defend the way he has asked them to, despite all their efforts.

He insists his brutal comments will have come no surprise to the dressing room and adds that he only wants to give them confidence.

"It's obvious we are not good enough. There is no taking the confidence away from the player when you have nine points," he said.

"It's just enough to watch the table and say, with this guy we play like this and with this guy we play like this and we have nine points.

"I give the confidence to the players but they have to do better, which is different. We have to do better from tomorrow - but the table is here.

"The guys are great in terms of mentality, of how they work on the training, how they want to do the things that I ask.

"They are committed, they want to work, they are good guys. There is a moment of the game when everything is not like 100 per cent.

"When we are 100 per cent we are competing and when we are a little bit less and we were a little bit less against Brighton, it's just a huge difference."