Sugawara: Fans are "unbelievable"
On a difficult night at Stamford Bridge, Yuki Sugawara saluted the travelling Southampton fans who witnessed their team's 4-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League.
Despite holding their own during the opening stages, the hosts raced into a three goal lead at half time. Goals from Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Levi Colwill before the break, with Marc Cucurella sealing the result in the second half.
"We felt very [good] for the first 20 minutes," said Sugawara. "[Chelsea] did some new things in the game, but we accepted [that] and we adapted [to] that and we defended well. Then two set-pieces make the difference in this game and that's really unacceptable.
"If there's concentration in the set-pieces I think we could keep it at 0-0 till [half-time]. I think the set-pieces make a difference. They have so many good [players] in their squad but they also have good tactics as well.
"But we also had a chance to score and control the game there, especially in the first half. We could have kept it 0-0 or minimum of one. But it's always tough against a good team who want to reach a Champions League [spot].
"It's always about mentality. I think now we're bottom of the league and we have to get a point. I think the mentality is really important for us. We have to be one team. We do that but I think it's not good enough. For us we've had too many games [where] we [concede] three, four in the first half.
"I just really want to say thank you to the fans. Tuesday, eight o'clock game, they come over here from Southampton. I just appreciate them and after the game their reaction was impressive for us. They clap and say "come on, go next one." That's impressive and we have to fight for them. They are unbelievable and I think they love us, but we love them."
