Mauricio Pellegrino said it was important that Southampton showed another string to their bow in a disciplined away performance at Man City.
Saints were cruelly beaten by Raheem Sterling’s 20-yard shot in the sixth minute of added time after Oriol Romeu had cancelled out Kevin De Bruyne’s deflected opener.
But Pellegrino was encouraged after seeing another side to his players, who were forced to concede the vast majority of possession at the Etihad Stadium.
“We have to learn how to play this type of game,” said the boss.
“In a normal game we are used to managing the ball for most of the game, but most of the time we were defending and waiting for our moment.
“We had to be patient and wait for our chances, which I thought we did well.”
Saints return to action with a South Coast derby at Bournemouth on Sunday – their third game in eight days.
“We have to keep going,” Pellegrino added.
“We will recover and rest tomorrow, but we have enough players who are fresh to be well prepared to win the game.”
Pellegrino lost Cédric to a hamstring injury in the closing stages at the Etihad, revealing the defender will have to be assessed later this week.
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