Ronald Koeman said it was “difficult to accept” Saints’ 2-1 defeat to Stoke.

Koeman felt his side were good value for at least a point at the Britannia Stadium but saw Saints come away with nothing.

Morgan Schneiderlin gave Saints the lead but goals from Mame Biram Diouf and Charlie Adam turned things around in the second half.

Koeman said: “Of course, sometimes it’s difficult to understand and to accept the final result and we know football is about details but we did enough to get at least one point.

“I think we played very well in the first 45 minutes, by far the better team, a lot of ball possession, good movements, some good goals, some good chances.

“In the second half starts difficult, score 1-1, but the reaction was very good of the players, we kept a lot of ball possession, good moments, the better chances in the game.

“A bad decision of the linesman about the offside of Mane. It’s not offside, it’s one against one with the goalkeeper and unlucky.

“I am proud of the team about how we play football. We know it’s a difficult place to come and to control in the direct play, in the set-pieces, in the physical strengths of Stoke.

Daily Echo:

“We deserve much more than we got but it’s the way we like to play, how we like to play football.

“Maybe in some situations a bit more clinical in the box in scoring about the chances what we are creating but in general we play well and at least at our level and that’s important to keep that until the end of the season.”