Jose Fonte has stated that the new players are still adapting to Southampton's style of play.

Southampton embarrassingly failed to make it into the group stages of the Europa League following a lacklustre defeat at the hands of FC Midtjylland in the playoff second leg on Thursday night.

The Saints were very poor during the game and captain Fonte believes that his side are not yet playing to their full potential as the new players are yet to settle in at the club.

Fonte told the Daily Echo: "We have a lot of new players, and the understanding is not the greatest at the moment. We have to be realistic. It's not easy. There's no way round it, it's not easy to get to grips with each other, but we'll get there.

"We'll work hard on the training ground, because we have potential, and all we need to do is keep being strong mentally, because these situations obviously are difficult, but only ourselves can take us out of this bad moment.

"We apologise to the fans, obviously they want their dreams and they came here to support us, and we are sad. Obviously, it's a difficult moment for everyone, but we have to move on. There's another game on Sunday [against Norwich], which is our main priority."