City showed greater adaptability, says Saints boss
The Saints boss accused his players of not sticking to the basics as they were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw at St James's Park.
And the former West Ham United boss admits that his side needed to claim all three points to keep pace with the section's frontrunners.
"The pitch conditions were really tough, we would like to have shown a bit more quality on it but I couldn't fault the players endeavour and commitment," he said.
"I just feel that we didn't do the basics well. The balls we were trying to turn and play in their half were going out of play and our set plays were a bit disappointing.
"On a pitch like this you can't afford that to happen, those little tiny things make a big difference. When we come up against these type of pitches and these type of conditions we maybe need to improve a little.
"It was very similar to Brentford in terms of bits and bobs not being done well, these teams are well engrained to these things and when you are changing players around like we are they have to learn.
"They put pressure on us second half and we had to keep changing things to try and create something.
"They were strong physically. I'm disappointed that we got another draw, but this is a tough place to come and with conditions like that and the commitment that they showed it was a tough afternoon.
"Normally this would be a decent result, but we need the wins."
Saints goalscorer Adam Lallana refused to blame the conditions for the dropped points on Saturday.
And although he was delighted to claim his 10th goal of the season, he says he would have readily swapped that strike for all three points.
"Obviously it is nice to score, but I would have rather have taken the win and not been on the scoresheet," he said.
"I thought we did well in the first half and we got the lead. But we didn't hold on to it. We had a couple of chances and, in the end, just ran out of ideas.
"It is the same for both teams, you have to adapt to the conditions. They seemed to look better than us in the second half."
