Hasenhüttl: Dominance no good without goals
Ralph Hasenhüttl was left to reflect on Southampton's inability to make the most of their first-half dominance at Carrow Road, as they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Norwich.
Saints had arrived to face the Premier League's bottom-placed side on a run of four top-flight matches unbeaten, and they looked well on course to extend that when Ché Adams fired them into a fourth-minute lead.
Norwich quickly levelled through a Teemu Pukki header, but Hasenhüttl's side retained their dominance throughout the opening 45 minutes, registering 12 shots to their opponents' one.
Yet, as the half-time whistle went, the score remained 1-1, and the interval gave the Canaries and new manager Dean Smith the opportunity to regain some control, with the hosts taking the upper hand after the break and ultimately winning the game through a late Grant Hanley header.
"Dominance without scoring is not really helpful, it only costs energy," said Hasenhüttl, discussing the first half.
"What was fact was that in the second half the opponent tried with the motions to put us on the back foot and they managed it, then we must play 1-1. This is what I have to say.
"Then we can never concede a goal like we did the second, where we have a clear one-against-one in the air and we don't man-mark in the situation, and for Alex [McCarthy] I think there's a chance to make the save there. It's too easy. It's too easy, and then it's always tough. Normally you cannot lose this game, but you see in football everything is possible."
Hasenhüttl did raise a question mark over Pukki's seventh-minute equaliser, though, with a strong claim for a foul by Milot Rashica on Kyle Walker-Peters that led to the start of the Norwich attack.
"For me it was a very bad moment to concede the equaliser, and the way we conceded it was also discussable," he said. "I think it was a clear foul.
"He is running past him and if this is not a foul then I don't know to be honest, but the referee decided to let it go. But then we still had enough players in behind the ball, but we couldn't defend it."
