Manager Ralph Hasenhüttl was far from disappointed with Southampton's performance against Manchester United, despite falling to a last-gasp Edinson Cavani goal, having been two goals to the good in the first half.
Jan Bednarek and James Ward-Prowse gave Saints a commanding lead going into the break, capitalising on a particularly productive first 45 minutes of football, which unfortunately wasn't matched in the second half as United introduced the influential Uruguayan to stage a match-winning comeback.
Despite that, the manager took plenty of positives from an "intense" game, not least the way Saints competed throughout, demonstrating that they're now at a level where they are able to challenge the league's so-called 'bigger' teams.
"We conceded a little too early on, I think," Hasenhüttl reflected. "You see that they have some good alternatives from the bench. Cavani was a constant danger in the box.
"We invested a lot, it was a very intense game. We showed some really good patterns and did the best we can, I think, but finally it is difficult to keep heads up, although we should have.
ralph hasenhüttl
we have a team that is hungry and who wants more.
southampton fc manager
"We were brave in the first half, good automatism and pressing. We were very committed but then in the second half it was getting more and more difficult. In the end it was not enough.
"Today was very tough. We know what we have done and we know how difficult it was. We showed some really good stuff with the ball and against the ball.
"We had gone seven games unbeaten before now, it's a good run. And now we'll need to start another run. So we'll keep on going and you can be sure that from next week we'll be concentrating on the next game.
"We have a team that is hungry and who wants more. That's the reason why we aren't scared about losing for the first time in eight games, let's keep on going."
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