(Reuters) - Southampton players and fans must unite to help the Premier League club get more wins and improve their position in the standings, striker Charlie Austin has said.
The Saints have won just one of their last nine league games to drop to 12th position and are just three points ahead of 18th-placed Newcastle United following consecutive defeats to Leicester City and champions Chelsea.
One positive for the club has been Austin’s form with the 28-year-old scoring four goals in Southampton’s last six league games. The Englishman has urged fans to get behind the team as they push for positive results.
“We know we need to improve and a one-club mentality can be powerful for that,” Austin told the club’s website (southamptonfc.com).
”We need to do better, we know that because as you look at the table we need to be higher up. It doesn’t take long, if you put together a few wins then you can be pushed right up there.
“I know the fans will think ‘people are always saying this’, but we do need to stick together because it is really important.”
Southampton have won just three of their 10 home games in the league this campaign and Austin believes the club must re-establish their dominance at St Mary‘s, starting with Saturday’s match against 11th-placed Huddersfield Town.
“We need to get back to making St Mary’s a fortress where teams come and they’re worried, not coming to try and play their football. They need to worry about us and we know we’ve got quality in the team,” Austin added.
“We know results are massive and that changes the whole morale. We need to do that on Saturday against Huddersfield because when you win everybody is different. You come in on a Monday morning... feeling completely different.”
Meanwhile, Southampton’s first team coach Eric Black has resigned to take a break and deal with the lasting effects of back injuries he sustained during his playing days.
Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly
