Dean Wilkins is eager to put things right with Saints' recent record against Saturday's opponents, Swindon Town.
The caretaker manager believes that there is a desire in the camp to address the stuttering start to the campaign, starting with this weekend's trip to the County Ground, a game which Wilkins expects to take charge of.
"It's a different situation, but all I can do is prepare the team for Saturday which is exactly what we've been doing, trying to keep the players as focused as we possibly can, because three points this weekend are important to us," he told Saints Player.
"I must admit we have played Swindon three times since I've been here, we haven't scored and we haven't won in any of them, so I want some revenge.
"We just have to forget about these outside issues, because we still have a job to do and we're paid to get on and do it.
"There is a determination without a doubt because this is the time when players look at themselves a little bit as well, and the big players come to the fore too. We will be looking for a real positive start to the game on Saturday that will continue throughout the ninety minutes, and which will hopefully be enough to gain us the three points that we want."
Wilkins has had a full week to work with the squad uninterrupted for the first time, which has given him the chance to put across ideas as well as being able to ease players back to full form and fitness.
"From the start of the season it's been a bit of a struggle, so it's not just suddenly turned on its head because of this situation. I think everybody recognises the lack of Lallana, Barnard and players who will openly admit to not being in the best of form like Puncheon and Lambert, that's a large part of your firepower, so we've got to do our work on the training ground, like we've been doing and take that into the game.
"It's important that we don't put too much pressure on Rickie. We've given him a special programme this week, so a lot of his work has been individual and when he joined up with the group for the first time on Thursday, he looked a lot sharper, and he was buzzing as well, so fingers crossed he'll take that into Saturday.
"You tweak things as you feel they need to be done," he continued. For example last week, we completed passes of the ball more times against Rochdale than we have done in over a year.
"What I've said to the lads is that's great, but when we come up to the penalty area, we can't then pass that responsibility on to somebody else, the final pass and the runs into the box need to be made and the aggression to be on the end of it needs to be there.
"We've been focussing on getting the ball forward a little bit quicker, and putting the ball into the box with a little more regularity, because with everything up to that point there has not been much wrong at all. On the other side of that, we've got to make sure that we don't get caught on the counter and that's something else we've worked on this week as well."
Wilkins added that the on-going discussion about the next full-time managerial appointment at the club is not a distraction, as he and the squad are being kept firmly in the loop about the situation.
"I understand that the club are in talks with a number of people, and we as players and staff will be the first to find out, because that's the way it is done. Until we hear otherwise, it's really important that we do try and remain focused on our next job, and that is gaining some revenge on Swindon."
