Norwich City head coach David Wagner said he was pleased with effort shown from his squad, as they drew 1-1 with Southampton.
Josh Sargent scored off the bench to claim a point for the Canaries, with Southampton going in front through Adam Armstrong.
"I'm pleased with the effort," Wagner said. "The players have shown the shift that they've brought in, it was a very difficult task. We had to suffer a lot.
"How the players executed the game plan was just great. We set ourselves up a little bit differently, I wanted to break them on the counter.
"We had our opportunities, good opportunities, but they did as well. They had a lot of possession, so we had to be switched on always to defend our box, and the players have done fantastically today.
"It was a hard-fought point, a deserved point if you've seen the shift, the effort, and the opportunities which they created. I'm very pleased with what I've seen today."
The Canaries lined up in a new formation against the Saints, with five defenders selected. Wagner says the tactical choice was down to strengths within the Norwich squad, as well as to counter the opponents.
"If we did not have the players available to us today, we wouldn't be able to do it. We've chosen it because of the opponent, they find the pockets of space and get further in behind.
"They have so many tools, but they struggle if you're good on the counter and if you can penetrate with the ball.
"I think it worked well and it was a deserved point against an in-form team in the division."
The head coach also spoke about the returning Sargent and Hanley, highlighting how good it was to have the two players back as options.
"We all know how much we missed him \[Sargent\], and we missed our skipper \[Grant Hanley\] as well. It was his first start, and looked good for 70 minutes.
"We need to make sure these guys come back to the best possible fitness levels. We have two weeks until the next league game, and five or six days until the cup game.
"We have to make sure we work with them, to train with them and to get them into the best possible shape. They'll get further minutes in the cup as well, and we have to keep going.
"It's always good to have top professionals and top quality players back, and Lungi isn't far away from his first minutes as well. We will keep pushing."