Tottenham defender Eric Dier says his side “lost their heads” as they tried to find a winner against 10-man Southampton on Tuesday.
Spurs had to settle for a point in a 1-1 draw after failing to break down the Saints, who had Mohammed Salisu sent off in the 39th minute for a foul which allowed Harry Kane to level from the spot after James Ward-Prowse’s stunning opener.
Antonio Conte’s men had two goals controversially disallowed by VAR in the second half, but they did not do enough to threaten overall.
Dier, who was making his 300th appearance for the club, said: “It really has got away from us, disappointed we didn’t get the win, especially them going down to 10 men. We couldn’t break them down and that is disappointing. It wasn’t the best performance from us.
“You get the goal there at the start of the second half and the game could be different, we could go on and get more and more, but the longer the game went on, we lost our heads a bit in the way we wanted to attack and we weren’t as structured as we should have been and we couldn’t get the goal.
“It was difficult. Sometimes it can be like that when you play against 10 men. When we didn’t have the right intensity and movement off the ball, it can be like that. It is disappointing. We will watch the game back and make sure if we find ourselves in that position again we handle it better.”
Spurs were missing Steven Bergwijn at St Mary’s and the Holland winger is not expected to be fit for the New Year’s Day trip to Watford.
“During the game against Crystal Palace, he felt a problem in his calf,” Conte said. “He was injured, together with (Giovani) Lo Celso and (Cristian) Romero and (Ryan) Sessegnon.
“I don’t think he’ll be back. He has a muscular problem and he needs to recover more time than 10 days or only a week.”
It was an impressive display by Southampton, who were the better side with 11 men on the pitch and then put in a fine rearguard display after the break.
Their plans for the game were thrown into disarray when they found out Che Adams had tested positive at 10pm the day before the game.
Boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “(On Monday) at 10pm I heard about Che Adams. I made a few phone calls, late in the night to change a few things.”
With the January transfer window a few days away from opening, the Austrian is expecting a quiet month.
Asked if he was planning on doing business, he said: “Not really, I am not a big friend of transfers in the January window. I don’t think anyone wants to leave. If they do we have to sit together and see if we take someone new.
“We will have a look. As always we are very relaxed at this time of year – we did a good job in the summer.”
