The St Mary’s side came unstuck once more when the pressure was on versus relegation rivals, following a 1-0 defeat at Leeds United on Saturday. The young outfit are capable of a top performance, with quality individuals throughout, but many have suggested they do not have the mental strength to handle the really big moments just yet.
Ruben Selles said: “I will not talk about bravery. I will talk about solutions. So for me bravery is out of the question, I think our players have it. The thing is that we didn’t find the connections and didn’t find the time to put players in the box. So when we arrive into the last third, it was sometimes too quick that we didn’t give ourselves the time to travel together into the final third. Because if we give the time for two or three passes, then we know we can arrive into the last third with more players and with more travel in the box,” he explains, assessing Saturday’s defeat at Elland Road. But we were trying to be too direct for some moments. And when you’re trying to be too direct, you can have a lucky shot. But then you don’t have the habit and that’s what we need to repeat. So we need to travel even more together with the ball and then we need to be even more compact in possession. I think it’s never just one thing or the other thing. I think, during the first half, we missed some of the triggers that we were ready to attack and perhaps I didn’t explain that well. So it’s my own fault. And we tried to adjust with the 4-2-3-1 at half-time and I think we grew into the second half. And when we conceded the goal it was at a good moment for us in the game. When we controlled more of the ball, we had more and we were more in possession and that goal changed the momentum, and we never came back.”
Asked if the players need to brush off the crucial defeat as soon as possible, with Premier League action resuming with a televised meeting versus Leicester City at St Mary’s on Saturday, Selles delivered a poignant one-liner.
Ruben Selles said: “Well, you know negative emotions stay in your head three times longer than positive emotions, so I expect that to happen.”
