SAINTS left-back Romain Perraud said the intensity was “not Southampton” after Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men were swept aside by relegation-threatened Burnley at Turf Moor on Thursday night. After a promising start, Clarets struck first in the 12th minute when Connor Roberts curled into the top corner from just outside the box. A dominant first half for the hosts got even better moments before the interval when Nathan Collins rose highest at a corner to nod home and make it 2-0.
Romain Perraud said: “We are disappointed about the result. We lost against a team who wanted it more than us. In football, when you don’t have good intensity, when you’re not aggressive, you lose the game normally. This is why we lost. We have to forget this game and be focused on Brighton on Sunday. Burnley play to stay in the Premier League. We knew this team would begin the game with good intensity, very aggressive. But our championship is not over, we have to play for the best position in the league. If we can finish in the top 10, we have to take this. And (Thursday) it’s not the way to play. It’s not Southampton. We play with very good intensity and we missed the game – simply.”
Perraud was drafted into the team for Saturday’s impressive 1-0 victory against Arsenal at St Mary’s and Hasenhuttl kept faith with the same starting XI – only to see very different results as his Saints side crumbled in Lancashire.
Romain Perraud added: “I think we have to find consistency. Because we lost 6-0 to Chelsea, we then won against Arsenal and (on Thursday) we lost in Burnley. Five games (left)…if we want to finish in the top 10, we have to be consistent. Because it’s not enough right now.”
The 90 minutes at Burnley was Perraud’s 17th appearance of his maiden Premier League campaign after joining last summer from Brest. Ahead of the trip to Brighton on Sunday, Saints sit 13th in the Premier League table – one point adrift of the 10th-placed Seagulls.
