Nigel Pearson admits keeping Southampton in the Championship will be tough after his new side lost 2-0 at home to Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday.Pearson, who only took over the reigns at St Mary's on Monday, saw his side slip to their eighth home league defeat of the season.
He said: "I am under no illusions about what a hard job this is going to be.
"I saw good things at some points in the game today but there are lots of others that we have to work on.
"Myself and the players are going to have to work hard out on the training ground to get where we all want the club to be.
"I learnt some things about the players tonight. Some things I liked and some things I didn't."
Former Newcastle assistant boss Pearson sent his side out in an attacking 4-3-3 formation but was hit with a double sucker punch in the 31st and 33rd minutes.
England Under-21 international Andrew Surman lost the ball 25 yards from goal and Argyle captain Lilian Nalis set up Hungary midfielder Peter Halmosi, who fired home from 10 yards.
Saints' misery was doubled two minutes later when Jim Paterson hit a speculative 25-yard shot that deceived Kelvin Davis in the Southampton goal and flew into the back of the net.
Pearson took off the ineffectual Bradley Wright-Phillips at the break and brought on Liverpool loanee Adam Hammill but the move failed to make an impact.
Argyle always looked the more likely to score in the second half and cruised to an easy 2-0 victory.
Their manager and former Saints boss Paul Sturrock believes his opponents have got enough good players not to be sucked into the relegation battle.
He said: "I have a lot of happy memories at the club and I left for reasons that I don't want to go into now.
"When you look at their team, they have some good players who should be doing better than they are at the moment and I am sure they will get it right and start moving up the table.
"They have too many good players to go down I think.
"My team might be unfashionable but we are just outside the play-offs.
"Sometimes you look at players and ask yourself would you like to go in the trenches with them?
"I look at my players and they are exactly the sort of people you would want on your side in the trenches."
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