MANAGER Ivan Juric insisted Saints lacked experience and physicality as he reflected on the club's relegation from the Premier League.

His side's fate had felt inevitable for months, but a 2-1 victory for Wolves at Ipswich opened up a 22-point gap to safety for the south coast club.

It meant Juric’s team required a draw or win in north London to delay the inevitable for at least another week but they were beaten 3-1.

Relegation with seven fixtures left gives Southampton an unwanted Premier League record as Derby and Huddersfield had only six matches to go.

Juric explained: "I have to be honest we have lots of young players, talented players, from Harwood-Bellis, Fernandes, Dibling, Archer, Sulemana.

"Lots but if you put on paper how many games they did in the Premier League, you understand they never played. They are good, but lack experience.

"I think the recruitment is everything in football and you have to find the right players for this league so they can be intense, physically good players.

"What I notice the most in these three or four months I am here is a completely different physicality between us and the other teams in the Premier League.

"If you have a team like Fernandes, Dibling, Sulemana, and it's the first experience for them in the Premier League, you already create something.

"I think the huge difference between us, between Ipswich and Leicester City, is physicality. Technically maybe some moments you can do it.

"Physically when it's a moment of transition, you cannot do it because they are physically stronger, faster, and this is the huge difference. 

"I think the same thing happened to Leicester and Ipswich with the difference between physicality of Championship and Premier League.

"The gap is huge between Championship and Premier League, but you have to find from now, from this moment players that can grow up and improve.

"Not just thinking to win the Championship but to create players that can be ready in the Premier League. This is my idea, to buy to create now."