Ralph Hasenhuttl has spoken of how the work continues to implement his ideas and philosophy at Southampton Football Club.

Speaking ahead of the trip to Chelsea Ralph Hasenhuttl has talked of how he is working hard to get a certain philosophy into his squad.

That philosophy involves everyone being committed to the same aims and kicking in the same direction, the Austrian has always stressed that if each player does that then they will feel the benefit of his meticulous methods.

“We took two important wins after having a normal week of training which helped us a lot I think. You feel that was only the first step and the manners and behaviours can fall back when we don’t train in this manner,”

“We try to make sure they are working in our direction that we want to show our supporters. In some moments you can see how we want to press, how we want to hunt and if we do so then we will always have chances to score like we did against Manchester City and against other good teams we can do so.

“There’s a lot of work to do which is what we knew from the first moment and it has been a tough schedule over Christmas but there’s no alternative than to face these games and be as prepared as possible.

“Hopefully we make a surprising result in Chelsea as that would be fantastic.”

Hasenhüttl made six changes to his side for the home game against Manchester City giving youth it's chance, but he hinted that there would be more for the Chelsea game with some of the experienced players coming back after being rested on Sunday.

“It’s always a good opportunity if there are injured or suspended players. We have a lot of fresh players we can bring into the game again.

“We had Ings, Redmond, Armstrong and also the two centre backs Yoshida and Vestergaard.

“Matt Targett has a bit of a problem as he took a hit on a muscle but we’ll have a look but there is a possibility to bring a lot of fresh players in.”

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 18:00 - Jan 1 The obvious absences of "the usual suspects" suggests that some of them will be gone (sold /loan)... by the end of January, because they failed Ralph " trial of fire" training sessions. Its clear that Ralph's hard-pressing style doesn't suit some of our favourites. A number of players seem to fall between the cracks when it comes to their future , example Ward-Prowse. Ralph praised his play v. Man City, yet half the people on this site want to see him go.(?) He's not the most physical of players, and needs to "man-up" when tackling back and NOT getting booked, but few of his critics would his set pieces are often a joy to watch - despite the fact that our strike force repeatedly fail to convert very good chances. Not altogether his fault. Looking back at his 200+ apps. he has been singley unlucky in that successive managers used him as a stop-gap in / fill in sub. when others were injured and he has had little chance to find his correct role and was often omitted in favour of Stephen Davis. I liked Davis a lot, but as his departure now seems imminent it maybe (at last) a chance for JWP to finally get a regular spot of his own. He is still a "young player" (in relative terms) , but failing that - Ralph will either make or break him, and will surely have told him .."it's my way - or the highway" by the end of the season.

1

saintmark1976 added 21:24 - Jan 1 Underweststand. J W P is not a young player by historical standards when you compare him to say Steve Williams or Steve Moran, both of which were regular first choice players at a very early age. I believe in the old footballing saying of "if your good enough your old enough". J W P has had multiple opportunities and simply failed to take them at any stage in the past. It's a pity because he has a good footballing brain but lacks ability whereas the likes of Redmond has the ability but lacks a footballing brain.

1

highfield49 added 09:57 - Jan 2 Interesting point saintmark1976, you got me analysing the squad deciding who matched the footballing brain/ability criteria and I've now got a better understanding of RH's problems getting the right balance in the team. When you add in the individual willingness to train harder his problem then amplifies. I think we can all identify players falling either side of the brain/ability divide and my sad conclusion is that there aren't too many who come out favourably, indeed I'm having a bit of trouble getting a team together. I think overall RH is probably going to achieve more by working on the brain and fitness side rather than technical shortcomings within the squad.

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Southampton Polls