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Dusan Tadic criticises Southampton's tactics

Dusan Tadic said Southampton's 'long ball' tactics were to blame for their Europa League exit
Image: Dusan Tadic said Southampton's 'long ball' tactics were to blame for their Europa League exit

Dusan Tadic says Southampton got their tactics wrong in the Europa League play-off defeat to FC Midtjylland.

And Tadic said he was ashamed that the club did not reach the group stage, an outcome secured by a 2-1 defeat on aggregate to the Danish champions.

Southampton's struggles are not restricted to European football - they have also not won any of their opening three Premier League games.

The Saints lost a high number of first-team players 12 months ago but Koeman was lauded for bringing in new talent and guiding the south-coast club to their highest Premier League finish of seventh place.

FC Midtjylland's Petter Andersson in action against Southampton
Image: Southampton were knocked out of the Europa League by FC Midtjylland

This summer, Morgan Schneiderlin and Nathaniel Clyne have been sold while former loanee Toby Alderweireld opted to leave Atletico Madrid for Tottenham. And with a host of players out injured, the current campaign is proving tougher.

Tadic came off the bench in Denmark and was praised by Koeman for giving his side a more creative edge, but the Serbia international, one of those recruited by Saints last year, believes the side are now adopting the wrong approach.

"We are very disappointed. I feel a little bit ashamed that we didn't go through," he said.

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"We started playing too many long balls. This is not our football. I understand that you can play too much direct sometimes. But I know this team. We like to play football on the ground.

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"We need to show more and play better as a team. It's not good. We lost some important players, some other players come in and they need time to adapt.

"We need to play more football because we're a footballing team. I always play football in my team and I know that if you play too much long ball then it's difficult.

"We need to play football how we were playing at the beginning of last year. From that we can do something."

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