Sunderland defender Sebastian Coates has admitted that his side's defeat to Southampton was difficult to take.
The Black Cats lost 1-0 at the Stadium of Light as Dusan Tadic scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot after Ryan Bertrand was fouled by Yann M'Vila.
Coates believes that his side defended well enough over the course of the game, but conceded that they did not do enough in the final third to challenge the Saints.
He told the club's official website: "I think anytime we lose it is disappointing but even more so at home because we needed to win, so it's difficult to take. We defended properly but we lost by a penalty which makes it hard to take.
"I believe that the team is okay but we know we need to improve.
"They played better than us and that's why they won, but we need to be better going forward and create more chances to score."
Sunderland are 19th in the Premier League after 12 matches this season.
Simon Sinclair
