Jose Fonte urges Southampton to respond to Europa League exit

Jose Fonte has claimed that it is crucial for Southampton to bounce back quickly from their Europa League exit at the hands of FC Midtjylland.

A 1-0 loss in Denmark on Thursday night condemned the Saints to a 2-1 aggregate defeat in the playoff tie, but Fonte insists that Ronald Koeman's side must not focus on the disappointment of their European journey being over for too long.

"The last thing I wanted to do right now was to be speaking about this disappointing result," the Southampton captain told the club's website.

"I feel sorry for the fans, but no-one is more disappointed than us. We worked hard last season to be in the Europa League and to be playing European football, but it didn't happen.

"We have only ourselves to blame. I thought that we had more quality than them – and on a couple of different nights we could have easily beaten them, but the fact is that we didn't so we can only blame ourselves for that."

Southampton return to action against Norwich City on Sunday.