Virgil van Dijk says Saints' scoring problems not down to Claude Puel
Thursday 15 December 2016 09:37, UK
Southampton's toothless attacking displays are not down to boss Claude Puel's tactics, according to defender Virgil van Dijk.
Saints have one of the best defensive records in the Premier League - they chalked up their 12th clean sheet of the season in all competitions, seven of them in the league, in Wednesday's 0-0 draw at Stoke.
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Only two clubs have conceded fewer goals than Saints' 15 this season - Chelsea and Tottenham have both shipped 11.
But only struggling Middlesbrough (13) have scored less than their 14 goals.
Van Dijk said: "It's not the system. It's that bit of quality. That bit of luck. We play with wingers now and we change it up sometimes, but we have the players to break teams down.
"We have 12 clean sheets this season but we still have a negative goal difference. That's not good enough. We need to improve, but also it's not the front men that need to score. It's everyone."
Ninth-placed Southampton travel to face south coast rivals Bournemouth, in 10th, on Sunday and left-back Ryan Bertrand is confident the team can bank on their stubborn defence to keep a third successive clean sheet.
"There's a bit of a rivalry, but we'll dust ourselves down from tonight (Wednesday) and take full confidence from the last two games to take it into that one," Bertrand said.
"We have to respect them but we'll just go about our business as normal and go there looking to upset them for the three points."
