Premier League: Ronald Koeman praises Southampton's patience in 2-0 win over Leicester

Ronald Koeman was always confident his Southampton side would break through and beat Leicester at St Mary’s.

The hosts dominated possession in the opening 45 minutes but only managed one shot on target. However, Koeman says he refused to panic at the interval and told his players they were on course for victory.

Shane Long stepped off the bench to fire a brace in the final 15 minutes to seal Southampton’s fourth straight Premier League win and keep them second in the table. Koeman was delighted with the eventual outcome.

We spoke at half-time to say ‘keep pressing and we will create the opportunities in the second half.'

“It was difficult against a team who had a good organisation in defence,” said Koeman.

“Maybe we missed a little bit of attention in the first half in the box, the final pass was not always good but we spoke at half-time to say ‘keep pressing and we will create the opportunities in the second half. You have to be patient. If you keep the clean sheet then for sure we will score one or two times.’

"It was a little bit late but it was great coming from Shane. He made the difference."

Clean sheets

Koeman took particular satisfaction from seeing his side rack up their fourth clean sheet in a row in the league – but, despite Southampton’s lofty position in the table, refused to comment on whether they could finish in the top four this term.

"Clean sheets are fantastic," he said. "Today Leicester had one big chance in the final of the game and another clean sheet means our organisation and qualities in defence are going well.

"Clean sheets make you a winning team. In front we have good players to make the difference.

"But there are eleven games played and nobody will be surprised about the result of today. Everyone knows Southampton has a good strong team and if we live game by game we can be successful.

"Which position in the table? We will see in the final of the league."