Penalty call infuriates Pochettino

Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino was adamant his side didn’t deserve to concede a late penalty in their 0-0 draw with Norwich City.

Goalkeeper Artur Boruc saved Saints with a strong save to Grant Holt’s penalty in second-half stoppage time, but Pochettino remained furious referee Mark Clattenburg pointed to the spot in the first place.

“Yes, it is not a penalty,” Pochettino told Sky Sports.

“It was not on the pitch and not on TV.

“Artur had a great save, we saved one point, and actually the team deserved to get three points.”

Pochettino claimed the snowy conditions at Carrow Road didn’t suit Saints’ game style whatsoever.

“Yes I agree with that, it has been hard for us to get goals, but I think at a difficult ground such as Norwich, I think my team played a good game in weather conditions for our type of football was not the best,” he said.

“The team fought really hard today and the result could have been worse with the penalty given in the last minute.”

Norwich boss Chris Hughton was understandably disappointed, after Holt missed what was their first Premier League penalty awarded to them this term.

“It was disappointing at that stage of the game,” Hughton said.

“It was the first penalty we have had all season. We were fortunate enough to win our last home game in the last few minutes and it would have been nice to do it today, but I think there were two fairly even teams today.”

Hughton also disagreed with Pochettino’s assessment of the spot kick, claiming there was contact between Saints’ Luke Shaw and Holt.

“I think what Grant does, I think he gets ahead of the lad and there is contact,” the former Newcastle gaffer said.

“Whether there is enough contact to justify a penalty… but it was certainly in the box and there was some contact.”