da bet sport： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
da dobrowin： Speaking after his side’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Saturday afternoon, Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has lauded his side’s “perfect” performance.
What did he say?
The Saints have endured a miserable start to the current campaign, with their 9-0 humiliation at home to Leicester undeniably their worst experience in their time in the Premier League.
And having headed into the weekend’s game in the relegation zone and travelling to the Emirates, Hasenhuttl’s side may have been fearing the worst. Instead, they were hugely unlucky to only come away with a point, with a series of missed opportunities towards the closing stages of the game.
However, despite failing to see his side hold on for all three points, the Austrian paid tribute to his players’ performances, and insisted they have now set the benchmark for what is to be expected of them.
He said (as quoted by The Daily Echo): “I think they can do it and I will them to do it because you have to. Coming now are two home games and we must have a performance like that all the time. That doesn’t mean we always play in that shape but today it was perfect and we surprised the opponent a little bit being so early on the front foot and trying to attack them very early.
“We won so many balls in the opponent half and had so often a counter attack situation. his was only because we were brave and didn’t want to defend deep and keep them away from our goal because of the quality they have in the final third. That was the right match plan I think and for this point I am happy but maybe a couple more.”
Platform
Make no mistake about it, Southampton were in desperate need of not just a good performance, but also a positive result too. And they delivered on both fronts on Saturday. The fact they come away from the game feeling like it’s two points dropped courtesy of how the match actually panned out, should really offer Hasenhuttl’s side a whole deal of encouragement.
It gives them a platform from which to build on, and as the manager himself pointed to, they have a couple of fixtures coming up that they should be looking to take close to maximum points from. The Arsenal game has given them some much-needed confidence that they can compete, and if they can produce something similar from now on, they will surely be able to avoid real trouble.