Southampton manager Ivan Juric attributed his team's early relegation to a significant gap in physicality between the Premier League and the Championship.
The club’s 3-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday confirmed their relegation with a historic seven matches to spare, marking the earliest drop in Premier League history.
Ipswich Town and Leicester City, the other two teams promoted from the Championship, are also facing relegation, with 17th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers sitting 12 points clear of the drop zone.
"What I notice the most in these three or four months I’ve been here is the completely different physicality between us and the other teams in the Premier League," said Juric, who joined Southampton in December after the club's poor start to the campaign.
"I think the same thing happened to Leicester and Ipswich Town. The difference in physicality between the Championship and the Premier League.
"Physically, when it's a moment of transition, when it’s a moment like a basketball game, you cannot do it because they are physically stronger, faster, and this is the huge difference."
Juric, whose contract with Southampton runs through the end of the 2025-26 season, said he was ready to help the club find its way back to the top flight if possible.
"It is really good to be a coach in the Premier League, and if I took the long way to come back here, I am ready," the former Genoa, Torino, and AS Roma coach said.
"Then I have to see with the club, with the ideas, with everything and what they think, what I think, and whether we can do it or not."
