Forward Cameron Archer felt Southampton put “too much” pressure on themselves ahead of facing AFC Bournemouth and wants to avoid repeating that before they meet Leicester on Saturday.
Russell Martin’s side lost 3-1 at the Vitality Stadium last month in a game many had circled as an early ‘must-win’ match.
Archer, looking ahead to their next game against Leicester City, insisted the Saints needed to remain focused on themselves following a poor start to the season.
The St Mary’s side find themselves on one point after seven games—a total Archer does not feel is a true reflection of their performances.
Their points tally has led to them being dubbed relegation candidates following their promotion via the Championship play-offs last season.
Asked about being written off by some sections of the media and other supporters, Archer responded: “It really depends on how you want to go about it.
“You can either use it as motivation or you can let it take you down. I think the only thing you can do is think positively, look at what you need to do and win games.
“Leicester have just come up. I haven’t really been looking at their results. The only thing we can do is focus on what we can do.
“The only thing we can do is come into training, get our heads down and work on ourselves. We put too much pressure on ourselves against Bournemouth.
“We need to play how we want to play, no matter the opponent. If you watch the first game against Newcastle, we played out of the back really well.
“Against United as well, the first 20-30 minutes we played really well. It’s just the mistakes. You get punished in the Premier League.
“If we can take away these mistakes, which we need to do, and play with more courage, we will pick up more points.”
Archer hit his first league goal for Southampton in a 3-1 defeat at Arsenal just before the international break.
Manager Martin felt it was a ‘big moment’ for the 22 year old, who joined from Aston Villa this summer, replacing Che Adams and Sekou Mara.
It ended his near eight-month wait for a Premier League goal—his last coming for Sheffield United in a 3-1 win over Luton last season.
He had, however, already hit a brace for the Saints in their Carabao Cup win at Cardiff City earlier this season.
