We must take chances, says Laudrup

Michael Laudrup says there were positives to take from his side's 2-0 defeat away to Southampton, but insists his side must start taking the chances they create.

Having played a tough fixture against St Gallen in the Europa League, on Thursday, the Great Dane says he was pleased with how his side performed, but disappointed that they couldn't take the chances they had to score.

A first-half strike from Southampton captain Lallana gave the home side the lead, after the midfielder latched onto a pass by Steven Davis before smashing a shot past Michel Vorm and into the top corner.

Having gone a goal down, the Swans came to life, and could have scored themselves as Nathan Dyer struck the post before Artur Boruc pulled off a sublime save to deny Wilfried Bony from heading home.

There were more opportunities for the Swans to equalise but, with ten minutes to go, Southampton striker Rodriguez punished the visitors by firing a shot into the bottom corner after capitalising on Chico Flores' hesitation to clear the ball.

Despite the defeat, Laudrup was keen to focus on the positive elements of the game.

He said: "Before we started the season, we said it could be difficult.

"We've seen a lot of cases around Europe with teams not used to playing in Europe, that they struggle with having to play on a Sunday.

"I can only say now that we have done well in all the games we have played after the midweek games.

"I thought some players could be tired, but I really didn't see that. Southampton, for the first 20 minutes, were the better team, but after the goal, I think we dominated the whole game.

"We created three chances in the first-half, and in the second-half, we dominated from the first until the last minute, but maybe not creating the same amount of chances.

"The negative part of the loss is that, in recent games, we have been severely punished for a few mistakes, and in some games we need too many chances to score. We have to be a little more convinced that we can score.

"In some games, to score a goal, we need four or five chances, so we need to make that percentage a little higher because, as we've seen lately with the opponent we play against, they score two out of three, or two out of four chances.

"We have to try to improve that because we do create many chances in all of the games - even against the very, very good teams." 

Meanwhile, Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino says his side's early goal helped set them on their way.

"I think the fact we got the early goal, forced us to not take the certain risks that we perhaps were intending to take, had we not scored that goal," said Pochettino.

"In the second half, we were solid. When we scored the second, everything became a bit more relaxed for us and we were able to see out the game."