Koeman hails Southampton spirit

Ronald Koeman praised the organisation of his Southampton side after they dug deep to clinch a 1-1 draw with Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Having suffered consecutive defeats to Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United in recent weeks, doubts had arisen about Southampton’s ability to compete with the Premier League’s elite.

But Sadio Mane threatened a Premier League upset at the St Mary’s Stadium on Sunday when his deft finish put Southampton into a 16th-minute lead, only for Eden Hazard to level on the stroke of half-time.

Manager Koeman was thrilled with a point against a side that have only lost once in the Premier League, though, and was particularly happy with the way his team kept their shape.

“One point against Chelsea may be three points against another opponent,” he said. “I’m proud of the players, the organisation and the spirit in the team.

“We knew it would be difficult, but the boys were fantastic. We had some difficult moments, but we kept the organisation. 

“We were maybe a bit lucky at times. but if you don’t have luck against these teams you don’t get a good result.

“We played until the last second with the organisation and the spirit was unbelievable. The difference was we didn’t make stupid mistakes like we did against City and United.

“The second half was more difficult, they had more possession in the second half.”

Southampton were perhaps lucky not to concede a second-half penalty when Cesc Fabregas went to ground when tripped by Matt Targett, only for referee Anthony Taylor to book the Spaniard for diving.

Though Koeman claimed not to have seen the incident fully, he conceded Chelsea may have been hard done by.

“I don’t know [if it was a penalty] I have to watch it back, maybe it’s a penalty I don’t know,” he added. “If it is they can be disappointed with the decision but it’s part of football.

“I think it’s a decision of the referee, if the referee thinks it’s simulation you have to give the player a yellow card, but that’s the question.

“But I have to watch the moment in the game because maybe for Chelsea it was an important moment of the game.”