Manager Ralph Hasenhüttl knows that his Southampton side have more to offer after the opening day defeat to Crystal Palace.
An early strike from Wilfried Zaha gave the hosts all three points but Saints did create chances in the second half they were unable to convert.
The Austrian summed up his thoughts on the performance, and where his team can look to improve.
“We knew what to expect from this game," he said. The opponent was waiting to counter-attack and we gave them an easy chance.
“Everything wasn’t quick enough. We had a few problems finding the space between the lines. We had a few chances in the second half and it was better with some big chances but the goalkeeper pulled off some good saves. If you want to take something from here you must do better."
The start of the second half did bring a flurry of chances, most notably for Nathan Redmond and Ché Adams.
Hasenhüttl added: “We changed (in the second half) a little but it’s not so easy to come back and just bring a top performance.
“We had a difficult pre-season with players not with us and we couldn’t work for two weeks on what we wanted to do.
“The opponent had the advantage so for us it was a little more difficult with our positioning. You can see it will be a tough season and we must step up immediately.”
Defender Kyle Walker-Peters had a red card for a high challenge on Crystal Palace defender Tyrick Mitchell downgraded to a yellow after referee Jon Moss consulted the pitch side monitor – an approach the boss has always been a fan of.
“Yes, I have always been in favour of the referee going over and checking the screen to have another look," he said of the incident.
“The referee makes the final decision on the pitch, it’s much more what we like and it makes sense.”
Share this:
