Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino has said that he is happy with how his side played during their 2-1 defeat against Everton.

The Saints fought back after going a goal down, only to lose to Romelu Lukaku's strike, but Pochettino was pleased at the approach from his team and is encouraged by the progress they have made since he took over.

"I thought it was a great game, both teams played positive football, it's a shame we did not get a positive result but that is football," BBC Sport quotes him as saying. "We did have great chances, it's a shame we did not take the lead and a shame we leave with nothing.

"We are aware Everton are a side who play attacking football so from that point of view I enjoyed it, but I also suffered it as we did not get anything from the game.

"We are happy with how the team is progressing. We fully believe in the academy players and that is the project at Southampton. We just need to give them time to adapt."

Southampton are currently ninth in the Premier League table.