Mark Hughes: Southampton have “got to be better” following Borussia Monchengladbach loss

Southampton manager Mark Hughes says his team needs to better if they are to have any success in their upcoming 2018/19 Premier League campaign.

Hughes’ comments follow Saints’ 3-0 home thrashing to German side Borussia Monchengladbach, the club’s final pre-season friendly before hosting Burnley in their opening league match next Sunday.

Speaking to the club’s media team, Hughes said: “It’s not what we wanted, if I’m honest, and that’s clear for everyone to see.

“Maybe it was the conditions or maybe the fact that we’ve played three games in a week just took the edge off our play.

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“We weren’t bright enough to really impose what we wanted to do on the opposition, but they were able to do that to us.

“We’ve got to be better in that regard. In terms of individual work, that can improve, because in one v one situations we’re not coming out with the ball on enough occasions.

“Collectively, we need a better understanding of what we’ve talked about in the week and then we’ve got to execute it in the games.

“I think as an exercise it was perfect for us. It’s a good one to get out of the way and a lot of the issues that were raised are things we’ve seen before and talked about.

“For long periods we made poor decisions, weren’t dynamic enough and, as a consequence, they were able to score quite easily.”