Jurić praises Saints' intensity
Ivan Jurić was pleased with a job well done by his Southampton side after a 3-0 home victory over Swansea booked Saints’ place in the Emirates FA Cup fourth round.
Kamaldeen Sulemana’s lob put the hosts in front in the 20th minute, before Tyler Dibling added further goals either side of half time, scoring the first brace of his fledgling career.
The visitors hit the inside of the post late on, while Aaron Ramsdale’s only save of the match came from a stoppage-time free-kick as Saints controlled the tie throughout.
“I think we did some good things in the first half and in the second half,” Jurić reflected. “There’s lots of things that are getting better, but today we have to be happy – satisfied because we did a good game and we won 3-0.
“We created lots of chances. We gave only one to Swansea in the last minute and I didn’t like it. There were moments of good intensity, good possession, attacking, but there were moments that we could do it much better.
“It was not easy to play against Swansea. I was watching their games and they have very good possession – if you don’t press, if you are not precise you can have lots of problems. I think the players were very focused, and they did well.”
Jurić was able to welcome back Will Smallbone from injury as a second-half substitute for the midfielder’s first competitive minutes since October.
“I think he can become an important player for us,” the manager added. “From what I’ve seen in training and this 20 minutes, he understands the game, understands the football and I’m very happy, very pleased he can start to play with us again.”
