Southampton head coach Allen takes positives from friendly defeat to Arsenal | OneFootball

Southampton head coach Remi Allen expressed her pride in her side’s performance against Arsenal at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday despite the 3-0 defeat.

The Saints faced The Gunners in their final pre-season game and they were unfortunate to come out with a three-goal deficit. Kyra Cooney-Cross broke the deadlock for Arsenal in the first half before Laia Codina rounded-off the scoring in the second period with a brace.

When speaking to the media after the match, Southampton boss Allen took pride from her side’s performance despite the loss. She was especially pleased with the defensive aspects of Southampton’s game.

“We want to pit ourselves against the best, we want that challenge and I think we stood up to it,” Allen said. “I think that out of possession, we showed a real compact, aggressive side to us.”

Arsenal opened the scoring in the first half when Cooney-Cross found the space to shoot from long range. After the break, Codina profited from two set pieces as The Gunners ended the game comfortable winners. The manner of the goals conceded was an aspect of the game that Allen found to be frustrating.

She said “The frustrating thing for me, if anything, was the manner of the goals. The first one looked like a world-class goal, so I might have to give them that one. The other two come from set-pieces, so for all the good work we’ve done out of possession to nullify their chances, we’ve conceded two from set-pieces. That will be an area to work on, but that aside, we are very proud of the way we played.

“I don’t think you have seen the best of us at all in possession today. I think we can be so much better; we were against Spurs, so it’s definitely that bravery when we are playing world-class opposition. It’s a learning thing and we’ll get there come the season.”

After conceding two quick-fire goals midway through the second half, Southampton recomposed themselves and saw out the remainder of the game. Allen said that resilience is a useful quality to have going into the new season.

She said “I said to the players ‘we might win or lose the league on goal difference, so we can’t concede in these last 15 minutes, I need to see that side of you’.

“They held up and they did not concede. At times, it was horrible, they are grafting, they are looking at me to say ‘when is it over?’ but they were resolute, they dealt with it, they were resilient.

“From an out-of-possession perspective, we can be really proud but we can definitely be better in possession.”

The game attracted an impressive attendance of 5,379 and Allen expressed her appreciation for those who came out in support of her side. The Saints boss emphasised her desire to build on last season’s solid support at St Mary’s Stadium this year.

She stated “We want more fans coming against Bristol. There will be times this season where it will be difficult for us and the fans become an extra player.

“A 5,000 crowd is great. Let’s build on it; we want to be getting 10,000-plus eventually, but we really appreciate the people that have come today.”

Southampton kick-off the new Barclays Women’s Championship season with a fixture against Bristol City at St Mary’s Stadium on Sunday.