Despite a promising start, Saints gave themselves a mountain to climb when sloppy defending allowed the hosts to take a two-goal lead inside 21 minutes. Speaking after the match, Selles was full of praise for the way in which his side approached the game while pointing to the flurry of individual errors that cost them a chance of taking all three points.
Ruben Selles said: “It was really hard. It’s really hard for us, that result. To control the game in the very beginning, we came here with a clear idea what to do. And then in two situations, we gave away two goals. And then it’s always a situation to fight back into the game. I think we did it. I think we stayed in the game. I think we saw the togetherness, the work, the things that we want to do, but it’s really difficult when we give away the situations like we did today. We fought back in the game, we scored the goal. The last action in the first half was a penalty again, in a situation that we need to defend better and then it’s always difficult. But I think the boys showed character. They wanted to come back, they wanted to play and we were in the game at 3-2. We had some chances and then again, we gave a goal away and again we had the character to come back and put the ball under pressure but there was not enough time.”
The bank holiday defeat marked the 13th occasion that Saints have been beaten by one goal in the Premier League this season. It once again displayed Saints’ ability to stay competitive before folding in the crucial moments.
Ruben Selles said: “Well, I think we need to be more robust in the way that we get the game. We need to be more competitive, we need to want it because as you say, it’s just those details, it is just one goal. It is not anybody that played better than us and was dominant against us. It is actually the opposite because I think we had a good first part of the game and I think in a lot of moments we were in control. But those key moments that we need to defend better as a team, those key moments are when you control better. And then we emphasised that but unfortunately it happened again today.”
