Southampton’s exit from the Under-21 Premier League Cup at the hands of Huddersfield was a deserved one, according to Technical Director Martin Hunter.
Saints’ defence of the trophy they won last season ended on Monday night as they were beaten 2-0 by the Terriers in the last 16 at St Mary’s.
Hunter was frustrated with his side’s performance and said he had no complaints about the result.
"It was very poor,” he told youtube.com/southamptonfc. “We lost 2-0 and if they had taken their chances it would have been more than that.
“I thought they were much the better team. In most of the individual battles they dominated. We spoke about that at half-time. We're out of the cup, and deservedly, and I don't really like to say that.”
Hunter added: "You're at St Mary's. It is a fantastic stadium. We keep talking to the players about how, if they're going to be able to develop, they've got to be able to deal with an environment like this, and a team that comes from a different division, but they played the better football and had more commitment.
"This is an important competition. We obviously did really well last year, so very, very disappointed, but you can't defend individual displays like that. I'm very, very disappointed. Apart from a couple of players, the other players were not good enough tonight.”
Hunter now wants the players to make sure they do the simple things right when they return to league action next.
"Just all the basics of the game,” he said. “The ability to defend one-against-one, the ability to move the ball quickly. All the basics of the game.
“Not a great tactical thing, but the basic elements of becoming a professional footballer, and that was not apparent tonight for long periods.
“Last 15 minutes, we're 2-0 down and we start to create a couple of chances, but the other 75 minutes we were chasing the game.”
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