Pelle: Southampton drought not affected confidence

Graziano Pelle insists his confidence has not been adversely affected by his goal drought for Southampton.

The striker has not found the net in a Premier League game since December 20 after scoring eight times in his first 17 league matches.

Pelle gave a timely reminder of his quality by netting in Italy’s 1-1 friendly draw against England at the Juventus Stadium on Tuesday.

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman spoke of his hope that the goal can give Pelle the belief to go on a run during during Southampton’s final eight games.

And the former Feyenoord man has kept faith in his ability to score goals in England’s top tier, while thanking the Southampton fans for sticking by him during his lean spell.

“I was happy to play in a nice stadium it’s a great team to play against. I like those games. I was happy, especially because I scored,” he told Southampton’s official website.

“For Southampton I got the chances, but I didn’t profit about it. I’m not a person who thinks negative. I have a great job and all I can do is work more and more when something is going wrong.

“That way I can achieve what I want to do. When you perform well the goals can come. It’s not only about scoring the goal, I want to do well for the team in general.

“I’m really happy for the support they give me. I said I have to try and bring the supporters to my side when I joined, in the beginning not many people knew me.

“I did well and then everyone was behind me. Then it has gone a bit wrong and some people can think he’s not good enough, but the stadium every time they make me feel good.

“I have to say thanks to them, I want to do my job as good as possible. I’m double happy if I score but I just want to think about the future, we have eight games left.”