Premier League: Southampton boss Ronald Koeman rued missed chances in his side's 1-0 defeat at Burnley
Sunday 14 December 2014 07:23, UK
Southampton boss Ronald Koeman rued his side’s missed chances as they suffered a fourth straight Premier League defeat at Burnley.
Goalkeeper Tom Heaton was the hero for the hosts after he saved Dusan Tadic’s second-half but Saints still had opportunities to equalise Ashley Barnes’ opener with Jose Fonte and Victor Wanyama both missing free headers.
And Koeman, whose side sit in fifth, found defeat hard to take after his team’s performance at Turf Moor.
“It’s the same as last Monday. We played well,” the Dutchman told Sky Sports. “I thought we played very well in the second-half but then you have to kill the game and we didn’t. Then one mistake and they score to make it 1-0.”
“That’s disappointing because we played good football, we had more chances and we were the better team.
“But we don’t have the result we deserve because I think the difference between now and the beginning of the season is that we need more chances to score and we are making mistakes in defence. We are allowing them to score and that’s a problem.”
Southampton are now two points adrift of West Ham in fourth after a four-game losing streak and Koeman admitted his side’s slump is down to a lack of confidence.
He added: “Not winning means there are some confidence issues with the players.
“That’s the reason why we are showing less quality in an attacking way, less sharpness in the box, missing chances and missing a penalty today.
“And in the defence, we’re normally strong but today they punished one mistake from the throw in and that’s difficult to accept.”