Ronald Koeman rues Maya Yoshida mistake in Southampton defeat
Sunday 20 September 2015 19:25, UK
Ronald Koeman admitted Southampton shot themselves in the foot as they were beaten 3-2 by Manchester United on Sunday.
Graziano Pelle gave Saints an early lead but then missed an excellent chance to make it 2-0 when he hit the post.
Anthony Martial equalised for United in the 34th minute before capitalising on a poor backpass from Maya Yoshida to put the visitors ahead.
"We didn't lose because of Man Utd, we lost because of ourselves," Koeman told Sky Sports. "If you have more chances, more shots on target, then you make this kind of mistake, it has a big influence on the final result.
"At 1-1 it was difficult and it was more difficult at 2-1 because you pay for those kind of mistakes against big teams."
Saints came close to levelling at 2-2 but David de Gea pulled off a fantastic save to keep out Jose Fonte's header.
Juan Mata then extended United's advantage and the visitors held out for a narrow victory after Pelle grabbed a late second.
"The first 30 mins we played perfect," said Koeman ."Good organisation, pressing well, and they had a lot of difficulties to build play up.
"We scored a good goal, had another good chance for Pelle, but maybe we lost our way 10 minutes before half-time.
"It's not about 30 minutes, it's 90 minutes. We have to keep that belief."
The defeat sees Saints remain 16th in the Premier League with just one win from six matches.
"It's all about belief," said Koeman. "Making mistakes is part of football, these kind of mistakes make it difficult to win but we have to continue because we have had a lot of changes in the team in the last few years.
"We need that belief and we have to show it over 90 minutes."
