ANDERS SVENSSON has pledged his future to Saints - by admitting the experience of playing in his first FA Cup Final had left him hungry for more success on the south coast.
The midfielder, who starred for Sweden in the World Cup, has been the subject of recent reports saying he might move during the summer.
His agent, Kent Carlsson, was yesterday quoted as saying Svensson is unhappy with the tactics of Gordon Strachan.
And there was widespread reports in some of today's tabloids that Svensson could leave.
The midfielder, taken off with 15 minutes remaining in Cardiff, was reported as saying: "If you are 1-0 down near the end you have to try and score. You don't sub a player who could create something. Of course I was very angry.
"For me there was really no logical explanation for the tactics in the second half."
But, looking ahead to next season, the 26-year-old told the Daily Echo on Saturday that he hoped the team could build on the successes of this campaign after finishing eighth in the league and winning the FA Cup. And he stressed he wants to continue to be a part of the St Mary's squad.
He said: "We are in the UEFA Cup now and we are all looking forward to next season. I am excited about Europe, I've never played out there before, it will be a good experience.
"If we want to improve we need to keep the players and maybe add to the squad.
"Antti (Niemi) has been brilliant, Beatts has scored loads of goals, he has been brilliant, and there has been loads of praise coming for us this year. As a team we are still developing and going forward and I feel there is much more to come."
Svensson described Saturday as an occasion he would never forget, and he added that the team were proud of their achievements.
"We have had a taste of it now and we would like to go back next season, hopefully we can continue on what we have been doing all season," he said.
"We had our chances, but we were just unable to score.
"We have worked all season, had a good season and given Arsenal a tough game and we shouldn't be ashamed of ourselves."
Svensson was happy with the way the team defended, but conceded Saints did not create enough chances. "We had a couple of chances, but they had decent chances and that's the way it goes," he said. "We put in a lot of work into defending well against Arsenal and we did that well.
"They always score one goal in a game, but we need to work on the offensive side, we did not create as much as we should have done."
Gordon Strachan also rubbished reports that Svensson was unhappy at Saints when asked about the situation on Saturday.
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