Southampton 0-4 Brighton: Saints suffer another heavy home defeat as they remain rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table

When Southampton appointed Ivan Juric two months ago, their club statement said they believed he would provide the ‘grit’ required to avoid relegation. That isn’t the word which would pop into fans’ minds right now. One that rhymes with it, perhaps.

If you are going to go down – and the Saints are edging closer to the Championship – at least do it with some dignity. At least give your supporters a reason to turn up on a Saturday afternoon. At least surpass that 11-point total set by Derby County in 2007-08. At least try.

Outside of St Mary’s Stadium, the Saints brass band were playing that Avicii song which goes: ‘Wake me up when it’s all over.’ You are always guaranteed to get a tune out of them, at least. The same cannot be said for this group under Juric, sadly.

Asked what went wrong here, Juric said: ‘Everything. In intensity, in quality, in everything. Today there was a feeling, a sensation, that there was a huge difference between the two teams. I’ve never had that feeling before. We are trying but it is not good enough.’

Brighton could yet finish this season with European football and they had a blast here as Joao Pedro, Georginio Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma and Jack Hinshelwood scored. In truth, they could have had twice their four-goal total and then some. ‘Aaron Ramsdale had an outstanding performance,’ said Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler, hence why they did not manage more.

Pedro toyed with Southampton from the start as the Brighton striker’s deft touches, one-twos and dummies made him look like the older kid playing with the young’uns on the playground.

Kaoru Mitoma was among the goal scorers for a Brighton side that are starting to hit their stride once again

Ivan Juric was brought in to help Southampton survive relegation but that won’t be happening

Saints captain Jan Bednarek went off injured in the first half to add insult to injury overall

Aaron Ramsdale was playing Champions League football last season but is now heading for the Championship

After Rutter, Carlos Baleba, Yakuba Minteh and Mitoma missed chances to open the scoring, Pedro made it 1-0 in the 23rd minute when he forced his way through. With no Southampton defenders near him, he dinked the ball over Ramsdale.

‘Attack, attack, attack,’ came the cry from a few Saints fans and Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was needed to stop Welington’s cross from creeping into the top corner. Cameron Archer thought he had equalised in the 49th minute, only for the offside flag to deny him.

Instead, Brighton made it 2-0 when their high press forced Joe Aribo into losing possession as Minteh picked up the ball and squared to Rutter for the finish. It became 3-0 when Mitoma received a pass from Pedro as he sprinted from his own half and chipped Ramsdale.

Hinshelwood completed the scoreline when Southampton’s defenders criminally allowed a corner to bounce through the box in the 82nd minute and he blasted it in.

That was the cue for Saints’ supporters to go marching out of St Mary’s. All they missed was Ramsdale making more saves to avoid an even more embarrassing scoreline.