Ronald Koeman admitted that the striker had lacked intensity in training

Graziano Pelle was left out of the 18 selected players for the home victory

Ronald Koeman has revealed he axed Graziano Pelle from Sunday's win over Manchester City because the striker disappointed him with a lack of 'intensity' in training.

Pelle was left out of the Southampton squad with Shane Long preferred to lead the line and Charlie Austin selected on the bench.

And Koeman conceded afterwards that Pelle failed to pull his weight in the lead-up to the game and did not show enough to deserve to be among his 18 players for the 4-2 victory.

Southampton manager Ronald Koeman left striker Graziano Pelle out against Manchester City on Sunday

Koeman said Pelle lacked 'intensity' in training and was therefore not selected in the manager's 18-man squad

GRAZIANO PELLE THIS SEASON Appearances: 28 Goals: 10 Assists: 5 Premier League games only Advertisement

'We have really good competition within the strikers and I wasn't happy about the intensity of Graziano this week in the training sessions,' he said.

'I like to be straight with everybody, and other players deserve more to be part of the 18 today.

'He [Pelle] knows [why he was dropped], I will see what happens next week.'

Saints travel to Tottenham next Sunday before finishing their season back at St Mary's against FA Cup finalists Crystal Palace.

Italian striker Pelle, an £8million signing from Feyenoord two years ago, has been linked with a move away in the summer.

The 30-year-old aside, Koeman was delighted with the performance of his players as they took all three points against an under-strength City side.

Koeman believes Southampton deserve credit for beating City, despite Manuel Pellegrini resting big names

Pelle is Southampton's No 1 striker but Shane Long and Charlie Austin were preferred for the win over City

Opposite number Manuel Pellegrini left out his own key hitman, Sergio Aguero, and a number of other stars with three days to go until they play at Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final.

Koeman said: 'I was impressed with the team performance, from the start, good intensity, good football, we created a lot of problems for them with the movement of Sadio and Shane.

'We were very productive, with even more chances to score than four.

'You can talk about the changes in the Man City team but that is not fair, give all the credit Southampton because the performance was fantastic.'