GARY O’Neil admitted Southampton’s winner was “disappointing” to concede, with Che Adams’ ninth minute strike proving the difference between Saints and Cherries. After initially managing to reset and regather themselves following a Southampton counter-attack, Cherries were unable to prevent Scotland international Adams from nodding home at the back stick from Romain Perraud’s first time cross. That was despite Cherries seemingly quelling the initial danger, with Saints able to recycle and recover their attack.
Gary O’Neil said: “The goal is disappointing. And, I mean, there will be moments like that. It’s just the way the game is. People take their eye off something or there’s a bit of confusion, and something doesn’t quite get picked up. We didn’t have too many bodies in the box either. And there will always be moments like that. So no criticism on my part.”
Cherries started the encounter with Ryan Fredericks and Marcus Tavernier operating on the opposite flanks to their usual deployments. O’Neil revealed the switch was based on Southampton’s recent line-ups, but after Ralph Hasenhuttl reverted to his 4-2-2-2, Cherries had to change their plans.
Gary O Neil added: “We look at it and we look to improve. From that moment, once we fixed a few things, because Southampton came slightly different tonight than they normally do. So once we got to grips with that, I felt we were in control, barring counter attacks, which is obviously a big threat of theirs. I think we went in for a reason, to play Tav and Freddo on their opposite side, but Southampton came slightly differently. We started the game well. It helped us, actually. There’s a ball, where Tav played Dom in behind his left foot on his wrong side and we nearly get in. So I thought we started the game well, and then the goal just maybe took the life out of us a little bit, so went back. We were always going to switch back to their normal side at some point anyway, so just took the opportunity to do that.”
