Saturday 28 October 2017 10:28, UK
Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino has admitted his side are still searching for an identity.
Since the Argentine replaced Claude Puel in June, the Saints have won three Premier League games and are in mid-table ahead of Sunday's visit to Brighton, live on Sky Sports.
Pellegrino said: "We are looking for an identity, we have played nine games in the Premier League. It's not too much when you think about the evolution of the team.
"In modern football, nine games, you can write a lot of history about that, but nine games in the history of the club is nothing.
"To build a connection between the players, this is nothing. We are changing in two or three different ways and we are changing players because we want to see how they feel in different situations."
Southampton will be without club-record signing Mario Lemina for the game after he injured an ankle in training.
Pellegrino added: "He's the type of player, and I've said this before, that we didn't have in the squad and this is the reason we bought him.
"But I think we've got players to replace him. Players with quality and most of them are ready to play, maybe in a different way because Mario is a guy that can cover a lot of distance.
"Our transition I think has improved a lot with Mario on the pitch, but every single player has different qualities."
Sofiane Boufal is one player who could benefit from Lemina's absence after he came off the bench to score a spectacular winner against West Brom last weekend.
But Pellegrino knows the side will have to be at their best whoever he picks at the Amex Stadium.
"It will be a difficult game," he said. "Really tough because they have been working for a long period of time with the same manager.
"They've got clear ideas and are really tough in set-plays. On the counter-attack they are dangerous and I think we need a really good performance to take something positive."
