Mauricio Pellegrino admitted he was pleased with the manner in which Southampton defeated Saint-Etienne in their most recent pre-season friendly.
Second-half goals from Manolo Gabbiadini, James Ward-Prowse and Maya Yoshida sealed the 3-0 victory, which was made difficult given the weather conditions in France.
“It is a really good end to our time here,” started Pellegrino.
“Today we played a tough game. It was very hot and at the beginning and that made it difficult, but we were increasing the level during the match and we finished well.
“Saint-Étienne were, little by little, decreasing their level as the game went on, but we were getting better and that was the difference today.”
Saints will now return to England to face FC Augsburg and Sevilla at St Mary’s in their final two pre-season friendlies next week.
And despite the impressive display in France, Pellegrino stressed that his side must continue to improve as they approach the final run in to the season.
“The important thing is that everybody is physically in a good way,” started the Saints boss.
“The players that came back this week have all – apart from Nathan [Redmond] - played some minutes and hopefully now everyone can be better every single game.
“We don’t have too much time. In 14 days we have our first Premier League game and our goal is to be ready for that game.”
Share this: