Wotte’s verdict – QPR

Saints’ Head Coach Mark Wotte bemoaned his side’s poor finishing, with the Dutch boss believing that Saints were worthy of all three points at St Mary’s on Saturday.

Decent chances were hard to come by in a drab first half against a goal-shy Queens Park Rangers side, whose play-off hopes appear to be rapidly evaporating.

Saints, on the other hand, were left looking for positives to take from the game, as Mark Wotte’s side recorded their second home draw within a week.

Speaking after the game, Wotte said, “I’m disappointed that we didn’t score a goal. I think we had some good chances in the final part of the match, and defensively we did very well today, but I think we have to finish better to take the three points.”

The Dutchman also commented on some missed opportunities from the referee and his assistants, which could have proved vital in changing Saints’ fortunes.

“If you see the chances we had and saw there were also one or two handballs in the box I think we deserved to win,” he continued.

“QPR were also not as bad as they have shown the last couple of weeks. Of course they are under pressure and under fire and they want to go up through the playoffs, but I think in the last 15 minutes we deserved to win the game.”

Much like they have done in recent weeks, Saints started the game very brightly, with Jason Euell breaking into the box as early as the second minute, but despite his best efforts, it was a struggle to break the deadlock.

“I think the two strikers, Jason Euell and Marek Saganowski, worked their socks off but they were not very dangerous up front,” Wotte explained.

“Jason started off well with a good chance in a one on one with the goalkeeper, but the ball went just narrow.

“We needed a little bit more speed up front, a little bit more creativity, and when Jake Thomson and Bradley Wright-Phillips came on I think it was the best part of our game.”

Wotte tried to change Saints’ fortunes by making two changes in as many minutes. Thomson and Wright-Phillips came on to replace Adam Lallana and Polish striker Saganowski with around 15 minutes remaining, and the Saints boss was pleased by both players’ contributions.

“After the changes with Jake Thomson and Bradley Wright-Phillips we were more dangerous up front and more down the sides and it paid off with some good chances,’ he explained.

“But then you have to take your chances and you have to finish it. If you don’t finish then you only the one point.

“You could say that I should have introduced them earlier on, but I gave credit to the team that has won ten points in five matches.

“I don’t see the point of changing at half-time when it’s still 0-0 and we’re controlling the game.

“We’ve picked up one point and we’re still very close to the other teams above, so it’s a little setback that we didn’t win, but I cannot blame the players for anything.

“We have eight games to go and we have a game in hand. If we win it then we’re out of the bottom three, so there’s nothing to worry about considering the fact that we’re still in the situation that we are in.

“Of course we wanted at least four points from these two home games and we tried to get them, but I think in both matches we didn’t quite take our chances quite clinically enough.

“You need to pull the trigger to get three points and I think we lacked a little bit of that up front. We will review the game of today and we will start working from Monday towards the Blackpool game.”

Saints will be desperate to get back to winning ways in their next match, as they make the long trip to Blackpool to face another of their relegation rivals.

Three points at Bloomfield Road could potentially lift Southampton out of the drop zone for the first time this year, giving their survival chances a massive boost in the process.