Southampton boss Ivan Juric pointed the finger at the club's recruitment after they became the fastest team to be relegated in Premier League history.
The Saints are heading back to the Championship at the first time of asking after a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham confirmed their fate with a record seven matches still to play.
Southampton have just 10 points — one shy of Derby's all-time low — and Croatian manager Juric, who has won just one of his 14 league games in charge, blamed an imbalanced squad.
'Recruitment is everything in football,' said Juric.
'We have a lot of talented young players, but with not many games in the Premier League. What I noticed most in three or four months here is the completely different physicality between us and the other teams in the league.
'Now is the moment to understand the mistakes the club made in the last three or four years and start to create something really good.'
All that remains for Southampton now is to beat Derby's harrowing mark of 11 points from 2007-08.
'It's our goal, to avoid being the worst team in Premier League history,' said Juric, who wants to stay for next season. 'The fans deserve more. Every person that works at Southampton has to do better and create something stronger.'
Saints fans gave their team a standing ovation at the final whistle. 'The love they show is incredible,' said Juric.
'They deserve more. Every person that works at Southampton has to do better and create something stronger.'
Tottenham climbed back up to 14th with the win and lifted spirits ahead of a Europa League quarter final against Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday, although Ange Postecoglou was not entirely satisfied.
'First half, we were really disciplined,' said Postecoglou. 'We limited them to one chance and going forward looked as threatening as we've looked for quite a while.
'Second half, we became too passive without the ball, allowed Southampton to get a bit of rhythm, were sloppy with ball and the substitutions didn't make the impact I wanted.
'Overall, the important thing is the win, to score three goals and get everyone through unscathed ready for a big night on Thursday.'
