Southampton must avoid Palace errors for Europa progress - Puel
(Reuters) - Southampton must learn from errors committed during their 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace in the Premier League to avoid a Europa League exit in their next match, manager Claudio Puel said.
The Saints host Israeli side Hapoel Be'er Sheva on Thursday in a match which will decide which side advance into the round of 32 as Group K runners-up.
"It's important to correct all that is possible, to analyse the game, to recover and to prepare in good condition with good attention for Thursday's game, which is an important game," Puel said.
"We won 2-0 at Arsenal and played a strong game. Perhaps we lacked concentration for this game, but it's not an excuse. It was a bad game and it's important to correct this and have a good reaction."
Southampton failed to carry on their good form from wins against Everton and Arsenal.
"I feel sorry that we could not give them (fans) the three points against Crystal Palace... But now we have to look forward to the big game in the Europa League and we know we need a win," the Portuguese defender Cedric Soares told the club website.
"I’m sure the team will be ready. We have shown that we have the answers on the pitch when we played Everton," he added.
"I hope we do the same again. We come from a loss... We belong in the Europa League."
(Reporting by Debanjan Bose in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)