Tadic knows the best way for Southampton to impress

31 August 2015 11:31

Dusan Tadic insists Southampton need to continue playing their attractive brand of football after seeing off 10-man Norwich on Sunday.

The Serbia winger was critical of what he perceived as long-ball tactics as Saints were knocked out of Europe at the Europa League play-off stage against FC Midtjylland last Thursday.

But Southampton picked up their first Barclays Premier League win of the season with a 3-0 victory over Norwich - who had Steven Whittaker sent off in the first half.

Tadic scored twice after the break to add to Graziano Pelle's opener and, after wanting a return to the kind of tactics that saw Saints achieve their best Premier League finish under Ronald Koeman last season, the 26-year-old was pleased with Sunday's performance.

"We like to play like this because we win football matches like this," he said.

"When we play good like a team then Graziano, me and the rest of the team can show our qualities. I think this is most important. This win is for the whole team.

"I think it was important for everyone. After Thursday we lost a little bit of confidence. We know what we can do. We need to play like this because we are a footballing team."

Pelle and Tadic may have scored the goals but Sadio Mane impressed on his return to the side having recovered from a hip injury.

The Senegalese was back to his best despite being linked with a move to Manchester United before the transfer window closes on Tuesday.

While Mane was happy to play during the speculation surrounding his future, midfielder Victor Wanyama had told Koeman he did not feel he could turn out for Saints as rumours over a transfer to Tottenham continue.

Despite that, Koeman once again reiterated after Sunday's win that no-one else will leave Southampton - while a move for Celtic defender Virgil van Dijk is still likely to happen.

Meanwhile, Norwich boss Alex Neil did not pull any punches after losing his first away game since taking over at the club in January - admitting his side deserved nothing from the game at St Mary's.

And experienced midfielder Graham Dorrans was in agreement with Neil and is keen to put the result to bed going into the international break.

"We have to put this behind us and get back to how we've been playing," he said.

"It's been an all right start to the season for us, but we'll be working hard to put things right. We didn't start with the intensity we've shown in recent matches, and we paid the price.

"Even before we went down to 10 men I didn't feel we were playing that well. We weren't on it today, which was disappointing. At this level you get punished for that.

"We've got a break next week, then we'll make sure we put it right in the next game."

Source: PA