Rubén Sellés was left lamenting key moments in the match that his side did not manage well enough in Southampton’s 2-0 defeat to Brentford at St Mary’s.
In a game of few chances, the visitors scored the all-important opener 13 minutes before half time, capitalising on a right-wing corner through Ivan Toney’s far-post tap in.
Ché Adams then saw a shot blocked on the line as Saints came out with fresh impetus after the interval, before the Bees provided a late sting in the tail with a breakaway goal as the hosts threw caution to the wind.
“I think the game was [about] managing the key moments, and we were not good enough in the key moments,” Sellés said.
“Those couple of set plays leading into the [first] goal, we can defend it better, as a team.
“I think we were structured, we had some of our principles, but unfortunately we didn’t make the last bit in the final third.
“Then when we were trying to chase the game in the last minute we were not structured for that long ball, and then we concede the second one, so again it was about the key moments.
“That’s why we need to be able to manage those moments a little bit better, to be able to keep a zero on the opponent’s score just to give us the possibility to win football matches.
“Unfortunately we don’t have all the chances that we wanted to create in that period, but I think in some moments we showed where we are, and we need to work to continue doing that more often on the pitch.”
Sellés was forced to withdraw Kyle Walker-Peters just shy of the hour mark, shortly after the defender appeared to pull up.
“Kyle had a kick and was not comfortable with the muscle,” the manager explained. “I don’t expect it to be a big injury, but we still need to wait for tomorrow to evaluate.”
Share this: