Southampton boss Ronald Koeman criticises Victor Wanyama tackle

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman was upset with midfielder Victor Wanyama for his tackle that led to his red card in the 1-0 win against West Ham.

Maya Yoshida gave Koeman's men a ninth minute lead and they held on for all three points despite playing for most of the second half following Wanyama's straight red for a reckless lunge on Dimitri Payet.

Wanyama has now been sent off three times this season, including for a similar incident during Southampton's 1-0 defeat at Norwich last month.

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"That's too much," Koeman told Sky Sports. "We already mentioned after the Norwich game, you can't make that tackle on that place of the pitch.

"It's the same for this situation. It's a hard tackle and you give the referee the possibility to give you a red card."

Despite the sending off, Koeman was satisfied with his side's performance, particularly praising his defence.

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"I'm very pleased with the final result," the Dutchman said. "It was a difficult game from the start but more difficult after the red card of Wanyama.

"But I think we defended fantastic and even with one less on the pitch we had the best chances to score the second goal."

Koeman also took the time to single out the recent performances of Fraser Forster and said it was no coincidence the England goalkeeper's return has coincided with an upturn in Southampton's fortunes.

"We had that also last season. He's a fantastic goalkeeper," Koeman added.

"He's so quiet but gives a lot of confidence to the defenders. It's not a coincidence that when he is back we've started keeping clean sheets.

"It's not a criticism to Maarten Stekelenburg or to the rest of the goalkeepers but sometimes you have one behind who has a little bit more luck in his life.

"He came after a big injury but he's demonstrating how good he is as a goalkeeper."

Southampton are now up to seventh just two points behind West Ham following victory over Slaven Bilic's side and Koeman is confident his side can enjoy a good end to the season.

"Our ambition is always to try to do it better than last season," he said. "That's very difficult because to end last season in seventh position was fantastic.

"But we have good players, we have a good team we have a really good belief at the moment and a lot of confidence. We're looking forward to the rest of the season and if Leicester can be the first, maybe Southampton can be the sixth."