Ronald Koeman spoke to the media after Southampton's 3-1 win against Swansea City in the Barclays Premier League.
Here's what he had to say:
On the expectations being higher this season…
The expectations are different. The people expect much more from the team than they expect from the beginning of last season. That’s normal.
Sometimes we are maybe a little bit struggling against that expectation with some new players, but with some players from last year they have to know and demand – players like Graziano, José, Victor and Davis – they are the kind of players who know.
Sometimes maybe they are too difficult with themselves and that’s one of the problems.
On improving…
We have a difficult start. It was all about winning the game. That’s maybe more pressure for the team last year, because that expectation was not like last season.
That’s a difference for the players and we need time for that.
On not being totally happy with the 3-0 win…
Of course, because I think we can play better. We can have more domination in the game after the 3-0 up and not defending the result.
I think we have to do it better. We lost against Man United about mistakes and of course Man United is different than Swansea. Swansea don’t punish you, but Man United did last week.
On how the players took the criticism after the game…
That’s my job. Of course, first of all I am very happy with the result but that’s football. We have to learn, we have to improve. If you don’t be critical after the game I think they don’t learn.
On 11 goals in three games…
That’s very good. One of the critics sometimes was that we had to create too much to score goals. Last Wednesday, okay, that was against a Championship team, but with all the respect we scored six goals.
Today, maybe four or five chances we scored three goals and that’s being very clinical. That’s one side, but the other side I think we have to improve.
On Virgil van Dijk…
It was a good header, he’s defensively strong and he has good free-kicks, a good shot in the box. His personality is important for the team.
He’s only 24 years, it’s his first season in the Premier League and he will improve, he will learn and he can be better.
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