Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is 'worried' after Crystal Palace loss
Saturday 12 December 2015 18:27, UK
Ronald Koeman admits he is "worried" by Southampton's form after their 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.
A Yohan Cabaye goal was enough to give the Eagles all three points in an entertaining match at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Shane Long squandered a gilt-edged chance at the death to make it 1-1 with Wayne Hennessey saving well in a one-on-one. The defeat means the Saints have not won since their 1-0 win over Sunderland on November 7 leaving Koeman concerned.
"I'm worried about results," the Dutchman said. "I'm not worried about how we play football. If you don't create chances then I'd be very worried. I'm disappointed by the final result but I'm not disappointed by the team. We worked hard, we did everything."
Crystal Palace were the dominant side and could have been further ahead were it not for the heroics of Southampton goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga, but Koeman believes his side should have left south London with a point.
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"Paulo had some good saves. I think both goalkeepers deserved a win today with the performances they showed. Maybe the Crystal Palace goalkeeper a little bit more because of the header from (Steven) Davis and the last one, the big chance from Shane (Long). That's the reason that we deserved a point," he added.
One of the reasons Southampton failed to find their groove, Koeman said, was because of the windy conditions at Selhurst Park.
"I think it was very difficult to play our football with the wind today. It makes it difficult for both teams but Crystal Palace is a team that plays a little bit more direct than Southampton.
"Maybe that was the reason why we had some difficulties at the beginning. After that we controlled the game. We had a good chance with a good header. We weren't defensively good in closing gaps for the first goal. But in the second half, I thought we played well. We dominated the game.
Top scorer Graziano Pelle started on the bench for Southampton and made little impact once he was introduced in the 67th minute. Koeman explained the Italian was not yet match fit and will have an injection to speed up his recovery.
"He's been struggling for several weeks now with a knee injury. He will get an injection this Monday that takes him out for two days. Then we hope we'll resolve the problem. He wasn't training for the last few days at the intensity of the rest and not for the whole sessions and so he wasn't ready for 90 minutes."
