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Long urges Saints team-mates to stick together

Cape Town - Southampton striker Shane Long has urged his team-mates to pull together and avoid pointing fingers as they work to turn the club's fortunes around.

The Saints have slowly slid down the Premier League standings over the last two months. They were up to 10th position before the 2-1 defeat at Manchester City on November 29, which was the start of their winless run.

Mauricio Pellegrino's side have not won in their last 10 league games, losing five, and now sit in 17th position, only one point clear of the relegation zone. 

Long is determined to turn things around and wants everyone at the club to believe in each other and build some confidence.

He told Sky Sports News: "I think the main thing is sticking together and not pointing the finger, blaming people. We're all in this together, this time round I think we've got a much stronger squad from my previous experiences of relegation battles.

"We've just got to believe in ourselves to get out of that trouble. I think at the moment we are going ahead in games and then dropping off because that confidence is so low, soaking up pressure, and teams are just too good at this level and punish you."

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