Mauricio Pellegrino Says Saints Need to Improve Finishing After Disappointing Draw Against Swansea

New Southampton coach Mauricio Pellegrino says he is disappointed with the 0-0 draw against Swansea in their opening game of the Premier League season. 

The Saints had 29 attempts on goal but only two of them were on target and Pellegrino said he is happy with his team's ability to create chances but have to improve on turning these chances into goals. 

"I'm a little bit disappointed because we did everything to win the game," he said. "We couldn't because football is like this – sometimes with a couple of chances you can score, but today we couldn't.

"As a manager, you can work on the way to create chances, on the way to control the game, but to have the courage to score goals is something that is difficult. I think we had 29 shots and just two on target.

"It's something that we have to continue working on, and keep going, but in parallel, I am really happy with the performance. As a first game, I think the level of the team was really high."

Pellegrino also went on to defend a few of his new players, saying that the short period of time they have been at the club means that they may not be fully fit or be adjusted to the playing-style. 

"Two or three players have been with us for only two or three weeks maximum and it's not enough in this level, but they showed compromise," said Pellegrino. 

"They showed commitment and especially they were really focused, controlling the opponent, because they were waiting to do some counter attacks and play long balls and, generally, I think we did a nice game.

"The only thing we are a little bit disappointed about is that we couldn't score."

Southampton and Pellegrino must now turn their attention to their next Premier League game, a tough visit from West Ham and their new attacking force of Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic.