Ralph Hasenhüttl was disappointed not to take advantage of the extra man as Southampton went down 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League.
Spurs went down to ten men after the dismissal of Serge Aurier in the 31st minute, shortly after taking the lead through Tanguy Ndombele, but Saints fought back to level things up through Danny Ings’s bizarre equaliser.
The boss felt it was important his side got in at half time at 1-1, but instead Harry Kane struck the winning goal for the depleted hosts just before the interval.
“It’s an opportunity missed – a big chance,” Hasenhüttl said. “We came back into the game but didn’t do enough to make Tottenham struggle.
“After the equaliser, 1-1 and one more on the pitch, you must go in at half time and think about what you can change, but we missed this chance to go in with a good feeling, because we gave it away in a very easy way. We can defend it much better, and that kills you.
“In the first 25 minutes of the second half, I think it was ok. We really played flexible and created scenes in the box, but the last 20 minutes after the subs was not what I expected it to be.
Hasenhüttl made a late tactical switch when Cédric suffered an injury in the warm-up, prompting Jannik Vestergaard to come in and James Ward-Prowse to operate as a right wing-back.
“It’s always difficult because you must change a little bit, and we also knew that the opponent was changing its shape, so that’s another reason why we also tried to change the shape,” he added.
“I think it worked well – in the first minutes we had a few chances and Nathan tried a few shots from outside the box, but, for the first goal, Angus can make the save, I think. It was in the middle of the goal and he knows he could save this ball.”
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