Rusk: Committed display was "a building block"
Interim manager Simon Rusk was keen to take the positives from Southampton’s battling display in defeat to Aston Villa.
High-flying Villa, still competing on three fronts this season, were kept at bay for 73 minutes at St Mary’s, as Saints restricted their visitors to speculative shots from distance until the first of two penalty saves from Aaron Ramsdale in the final 20 minutes of the contest.
Rusk saw the performance as “a building block” and felt his team did a good job of keeping things tight for as long as they did, before three goals from Villa substitutes took the game away from the hosts.
“We’re playing against a team who are playing in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, so we know the threats they possess,” Rusk said.
“The 73rd minute was the first goal, so I think we can be pleased that we’re at 0-0 in that moment, but we’re disappointed with the nature of the way we go behind.
“I think there’s a building block. I think people could see it was a committed team, desperate to be solid.
“We’ve got to find a balance. We can’t just open up and play against top teams as if it doesn’t matter – we’ve got to keep the game tight, that’s what the reality is and that’s where we’re at. I think it’s the right thing to do
“Of course there are going to be things we want to improve on, but we knew that going into it. The effort was wholehearted, and we’ve been undone by some moments of real quality.
“The game at this level is about moments, and we’ve got to try and get more of our moments right than not right. We’ll bounce forward into the next game looking at what we can improve, and obviously hold on to what was good because there was a lot that was good today.
“Confidence is everything, so now it’s about making sure we draw what we feel we can use going into our next game, have a great training week and see where it takes us.”
