van Dijk admits Southampton must do better

Saints defender Virgil van Dijk has admitted  that Southampton must do better after letting a two-goal lead slip against Leicester City.

van Dijk scored the second goal of the afternoon, adding to fellow defender José Fonte’s opener with a close-range finish.

Speaking to the Southampton YouTube channel, van Dijk said that he was very disappointed with the result.

“I’m very disappointed and I think the rest of the players are as well. These are the games where you can’t give points away.”

Southampton held a two-nil lead going into half-time but after the introduction of Nathan Dyer and Riyad Mahrez, Leicester got themselves back into the match thanks to two Jamie Vardy goals.

“We didn’t lose, but it feels like we lost and that’s a terrible feeling. I think the first half was excellent. We played well and scored two goals. “We should have done the same thing second half but we didn’t and it was a disappointing half. It feels like we lost, even if we didn’t. These are the games you can’t give points away. “We need to analyse it well and be ready for the big game next week. There are a lot of things we need to do much better and improve. We will look at it and talk about it.”

van Dijk also said that the managers half-time team talk was very clear and that the entire team was devastated to let the lead slip.

“Score the third and keep a clean sheet (was what we said).”We know they have come back in a couple of games, but we should have done much better than we did second half. “In the end it was our own fault that we didn’t keep the three points. It was hard work because they have quick strikers so you need to be on your toes. “That’s part of the game. We should have won, but we didn’t. We need to talk about it. One thing is for sure – we need to do much better to win these games.”