Ralph Hasenhuttl's after match comments after the defeat to Spurs on Saturday have stirred up a hornet's nest, but are they being taken completely out of context.
I find it strange why people want to be told what is going on all of the time, what manager gives any in depth analysis of why he played certain players and formations etc etc. The whole point is that you keep the opposition guessing and Ralph has certainly done that.
But that doesn't mean that everything he says should be taken literally, being Austrian he is a manager who like his German counterpart Jurgen Klopp speaks a very direct language, one that although fine in Germany when they both managed there, can should a little direct in England.
The latest talking point for Saints supporters is the issue on Saturday when Cedric was injured in the warm up and some have taken Hasenhuttl's comments a little bit to the word and not in the context they were meant.
Let's look at Saturday, Hasenhuttl is not out on the pitch with the players warming up, 30 mins before kick off someone comes in and says Cedric is injured, he doesn't have time to get the full details, he has to sit down and work out what changes he is going to make in a very short period of time, he hasn't got time to sit down and talk to Cedric, all he knows is he is injured, he then has to give a team talk and deal with the game.
After he has to go to a press conference in which he says
"You prepare for the game and then half an hour before he says he can’t train.
"I don’t know what happened. It wasn’t the best preparation for the game. I haven’t spoken to him now but I will.”
That he has said "half an hour before he says he can’t train" has confused some, as Ralph has used the word "Train" they are taking it literally, that he has refused to go out on the pitch and warm up, that is incorrect, pictures show Cedric in full kit being helped off the pitch as shown below.
So what does Ralph's press conference words tell you?
it tells you he doesn't know what injury Cedric had, only that he was told he could't train, a throwaway line in a press conference because he genuinely does not know the full extent and he then concludes it isn't best preparation which it isn't, the whole incident is then blown out of proportion because of the word "train" rather than "play", using "train" made some conclude there was some issue and Cedric was refusing to play.
But he wasn't pointing the finger at Cedric, just commenting and mixing up English phrases
So in conclusion there is nothing really to read into here, Cedric pulled a muscle in the warm up, something that happens from time to time, even professions suddenly pull a muscle etc out of nowhere, one minute it is fine, the next for no apparent reason it goes ping.
Yes of late the manager has made some baffling selections and that leads to Chinese Whispers on social media and sometimes these become a frenzy, we have to avoid the meltdown's of the last 5 or so years and concentrate on the future and not trying to make every drama a crisis, let's concentrate on the future not the past, n Ralph Hasenhuttl we have a good manager who has brought pride back into the club, let's not drag ourselves back down again.