ORIOL Romeu took no pleasure in scoring his first Premier League goal of the season during the 4-2 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Spaniard, on his return from a two-game suspension, hit home to equalise against his former club after Eden Hazard had given the Premier League leaders an early lead.

But, Romeu was left to rue another Saints loss to a leading top-flight side, making it no wins in nine league attempts against the elite’s frontrunners this term.

He was also disappointed in the poor defensive display, which saw Diego Costa (2) and Gary Cahill’s goals seal victory for Antonio Conte’s side, and has demanded better from Claude Puel’s men.

“Sometimes even after scoring you don’t feel happy after the game and today is one of those,” he said.

“When I scored it made it 1-1 and it put us back in the game, but after the goal they scored straight before half time and that was quite hard.

“We came back in the second half not with the same mentality for the first half ... they were better than us in the second half, but in the first half we were just as good as them.”

He added: “They started very quick in the game, they scored with the first shot that they had, but we kept playing, having possession, playing between the lines and creating chances.

“We could score and get back into the game but that goal just before half time was key to the game.”

Romeu was not happy about the manner in which Saints conceded.

“No [I’m not happy] and, I’m not sure how many, but a few were coming from set pieces and crosses into the box and second balls,” he said.

“It’s something we are conceding quite a lot from recently and it’s something we need to get better at because to win games we need to make sure we’re not conceding four goals every game.”

The 25-year-old revealed that many of the Chelsea players complimented Saints on their quality after the game, but Romeu would rather be taking big scalps in the spirit of last season than being praised after defeat.

“We can compete against anyone and this year we are not winning against top teams and that’s something we need to improve on,” he said.

“I don’t know what happens – it was the same in the final [EFL Cup final against Manchester United].

“I talk with some players then and today the same with some Chelsea players, they’re telling me ‘you’re playing very good’, ‘you do good football’, ‘don’t worry, you have a good team’.

“But we want to win, we don’t just want to be nice and people talking good about us – we want to compete and win games even though we’re competing against top teams.”

Last term, Saints won against all the big guns.

“We won against all the top teams last season and this year it hasn’t happened,” Romeu continued.

“We’re playing good and we’re still doing top things, but may be not enough to win games.”

“It feels a bit sad when they’re telling you you’re playing good and have a good team, but what we want is to win games and that would makes us happy.

“It’s good to hear those things, but better after a win.”