Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has stated he is proud of his players, after they were held to a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in Saturday's early kick-off.
A brace from Italian striker Graziano Pellé looked to seal the three points for the Saints, sandwiched in with an Erik Lamela strike before half-time, but Spurs continued to press for an equaliser and eventually found one through Belgian winger Nacer Chadli. The Dutchman admitted he was disappointed not to have taken all three points from the match, but has reiterated that he was happy with the team's performance nonetheless.
He told Southampton's official website this: "I'm proud of the team, I'm a little bit disappointed because if you go two times in-front in the game then normally you expect to win. But one mistake defensively for the 2-2, they punished us for that. But I'm proud of all the players. It was a great football game today and the support and reaction of the fans after the game means a lot. We played well - we played at our level. Until the last second we were fighting to win the game and a little unlucky about the last header of Jose Fonté. But how we played today, that's enjoyable for the manager. The lads showed today our level and why we stayed up in the table."
A victory for either side would have seen them move into fifth place above Liverpool, who were held to a goal-less draw by West Brom in one of the 3pm kick-off's. Koeman on conceding on the stroke of half-time: "It's always painful if you [concede] just before half-time. It was handball but it was so difficult for the referee to get that. But our reaction and how we played the second-half was very good. In the second-half, we had some good chances to score, maybe the best was for Steven Davis. But to score goals you have to shoot on target! We gave too much space to Chadli and they punished us."
