DUSAN Tadic has urged Saints to put themselves under pressure ahead of two defining games in four days.

The Serbian attacking midfielder has spoken of a “need” to put a positive pressure on the squad to succeed.

Saints’ opening Europa League match against Sparta Prague at St Mary’s tonight is followed by a huge chance to get their first Premier League win of the season at home to Swansea on Sunday.

A win in both matches will undoubtedly begin to change the negative opinions from supporters over Claude Puel’s credentials as manager, which have crept in during the Frenchman’s winless stint so far.

Tadic has recognised that to come out of the next few days with a triumph in their Group K opener and in the league will change everything for the better at St Mary’s ahead of a hectic period of seven games in just 18 days.

“It will be totally different and I think we need to do that,” explained the playmaker. “It is simple, we need to put that kind of pressure on ourselves, because sometimes I like to feel the pressure that we need to beat our opponents.

“We need to beat them - it’s simple.”

There is a feeling that Saints have a point to prove against Sparta after the frustrations of last season’s short-lived and anti-climatic sortie into Europe.

Last summer, after a routine defeat of Vitesse Arnhem in the third qualifying round, Ronald Koeman’s side were eliminated by Danish minnows FC Midtjylland in the play-off round, just before the group stages. It has been a sore subject ever since and the players are fully aware that they have a chance to put things right this time around.

“It was really disappointing because Southampton have never played in the Europa League group stages,” Tadic stated.

“But now we give them that, we give them extra matches to watch us in Europe and I hope we will make them happy.”

A win against Sparta will give Saints “more confidence to beat Swansea” according to Tadic, but he has indicated that their Czech opponents won’t simply roll over in the face of Premier League opposition.

“I know them (Sparta Prague) because I was watching Europa League last year and saw some of their games,” he revealed. “They are a strong team. They are not easy to beat. “You can never say in football that ‘they are not good’ and not give 100 per cent because they have a lot of qualities and we know it will be a hard game.”

The 27-year-old waved away any thoughts that the Europa League is an unwanted distraction considering Saints currently vacate 18th in the Premier League without a victory.

Instead, Tadic labelled every Europa League match as “massive”.

“Every game is massive, you need to try and beat everyone to go through,” he said. “It’s always big when you play at home or away. You need to take the points if you want to go through.”