Mauricio Pellegrino: 'Southampton deserved a point against Manchester United'

Mauricio Pellegrino has claimed that Southampton were good value for a point against Manchester United, even if they did lack a cutting edge in front of goal.

The Saints failed to find a way through at St Mary's Stadium on Saturday afternoon, as they went down 1-0 to a first-half goal from Romelu Lukaku.

For the eighth time in nine home Premier League games Southampton fired a blank, but Pellegrino suggests that a point apiece would have provided a fairer reflection of events on the south coast following a strong showing from his side in the second half.

"Yes," he told reporters when asked if a draw was warranted. "But football is about efficiency and you have to score goals. I don't like to talk about good luck or bad luck because we have to score goals and we couldn't, but at the same time I think we played a good game.

"In general we control the game against Man U - a team that it is really difficult to control even when they are defending, because in counter-attack they are really good, they have got pace, they are in direct play really strong.

"I think we did 90% of the things we were working on and, against these type of teams, you have to play really well, really close to excellent to win games."

This was just the second time that Southampton have had more shots than their opponents in a league game this season.