New Southampton boss Ivan Juric saw first-hand how tough a job he has got on his hands, with even some of his side's supporters mocking the team's efforts, despite them gaining a hard-fought goalless draw at in-form Fulham.

At a bitterly cold Craven Cottage, the former Roma boss and ex-Croatia player was an animated presence in the press seats after he had been announced as manager on Saturday, replacing the sacked Russell Martin.

But Juric, sitting alongside members of his coaching staff, had to wait until the 56th minute to see his team have an attempt on target, with away fans chanting "we had a shot" after Adam Armstrong's tame 20-yard strike was straight at home keeper Bernd Leno.

That was the only save Leno had to make and highlighted Southampton's weakness up front. Their total of 11 goals from 17 matches is the worst in the Premier League, with Everton's tally of 14 the next lowest.

Despite the battling point, Southampton are bottom of the top flight at Christmas for the first time in their history and their six-point tally is the joint-third lowest of any side in the Premier League era, with only Sheffield United (two in 2020-21) and Sunderland (five in 2005-06) having fewer.

Follow live text and radio commentary of Sunday's Premier League matches

Martin was sacked last Sunday, shortly after a humiliating 5-0 home loss to Tottenham, with Spurs scoring all their goals in the first half.

But Juric, 49, will be encouraged by the organisation and spirit the Saints showed to contain a Fulham side that had beaten Brighton and gained draws with Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool in their past four games.

Another boost would be the availability, and impact, of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, who had missed six weeks because of a finger injury but ensured Southampton would not suffer a 14th league defeat this term.

The England international got fingertips to an curling effort from the dangerous Alex Iwobi and later showed superb reflexes to push over Harry Wilson's powerful half-volley.

Substitute Adama Traore had a glorious chance to win it late on for Fulham, but dragged an angled effort just wide.

Martin had taken Southampton back into the Premier League after beating Leeds United in the Championship play-off final at Wembley in May, but admitted he had been "embarrassed" by his side's lowly top-flight points total before his near-18-month spell in charge came to an abrupt end.

Just as for the 2-1 Carabao Cup quarter-final loss against Liverpool on Wednesday, interim boss Simon Rusk led them from the dugout, with Juric's first game in charge set to be the home game against West Ham on 26 December.

Speaking about his new boss, Ramsdale said: "We met him and, from what came across, he wants to be high pressing, a little more aggressive, hard to beat, crushing spaces and playing in the right areas.

"We probably kicked more today than he would like to, so it's about finding that balance between kicking when we can and letting our boys in attack enjoy themselves."

Juric was constantly chatting tactics with his coaching staff up in the stands, sometimes in Italian, sometimes in English.

Early signs are he will expect his team to press more and applauded one that won a throw-in and was then critical when they were sitting off too much. "Steal the ball," was one call when they were not engaging.

One of the hallmarks of Martin's side was playing out from the back and knocking the ball around defence, but they may adopt a more direct style, with Juric unhappy when the Saints played a number of passes along their backline without getting anywhere.

One thing the new manager did like was a superb run from Tyler Dibling from halfway before he was blocked out by the home defence. The 18-year-old English forward has been one of the few bright sparks for Saints this season and Juric will be hoping to help him progress further.

Juric was also shouting encouragement to his side in the second half, only to be heckled by some home fans, who were only two rows away, with "he can't hear you" among the shouts.

But he nearly had the last laugh. As Southampton gained a couple of late corners and a chance to snatch a victory they did not deserve, Juric could be heard saying, 'come on guys, come on guys'.

For ninth-placed Fulham, manager Marco Silva felt the draw was a "missed opportunity" as victory would have moved them just four points behind fourth-placed Nottingham Forest.

He said: "We should have won the game definitely. We tried everything, it's impossible to finish a game with more attacking players in our team. Our attacking line was never really a threat for them.

"We had two or three clear chances, but we should have created more and have to be more clinical. That was a game we win if we take better decisions."

A former midfielder, Juric played five times for Croatia and his club career included spells at Croatian side Hajduk Split, Sevilla in Spain and Italian duo Crotone and Genoa, whom he also went on to manage.

He had two years at Verona from 2019 and three in charge of Torino, before he was appointed Roma boss in September, only to be dismissed less than two months later, on 10 November, with the club only four points above the Serie A relegation zone.

BBC Radio Solent sports editor Adam Blackmore has urged supporters to give Juric "a chance".

On a special podcast episode, he said: "There's so much negativity. It almost feels like, especially on social media, people are waiting to give an opposite view or say something before they even have the facts in front of them.

"People will want to quote his bad spell at Roma or say he hasn't managed in England before, but we didn't know much about Mauricio Pochettino when he turned up all those years ago.

"Juric is a much more well-known quantity, having had good success at Hellas Verona and Torino. You are no mug if you have managed in Serie A for a few years.

"So I think we have to give him a chance to see what he can do. The results cannot be any worse than they are.

"I'm not sure how we should judge him. I don't think people should be expecting the club to stay up. We should be hoping they could have a miracle, but it would be that because no club has stayed up from the situation they are in."