Alan Pardew was of the belief that his Crystal Palace side were below par in attack against Southampton.
The Eagles produced very little in the front third in their eventual 1-0 loss at St Mary's on Tuesday night which resonated with Pardew in the after-match.
"I felt that we struggled as an attacking unit," he told Sky Sports.
"I didn't think our strikers got much protection with their aggressive centre-halves coming through the back of players.
"We couldn't retain the ball so we changed it around and it worked a little bit better. Second half we were the dominant side and the team that looked like they were going to win it, creating chances when Southampton weren't really creating anything. It's a real shame to lose.
"The disappointment won't go away you lose but there were some great performances from my players again and if we keep that going we'll be fine."
The defeat was Palace's second in three matches but did nothing to negatively affect their standing of 12th on the Premier League table.
