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Hasenhuttl Taking One Game At A Time
Wednesday, 16th Jan 2019 09:17

It's one of the oldest cliches in football, but Ralph Hasenhuttl is heeding it and taking every game as it comes as the season starts to hot up.

Ralph Hasenhuttl is happy with the way things are going at the moment in the League he has won 3 out of 7 games and racked up 10 points in doing so, a decent ratio that if he can continue it then it should see Saints home and dry with time to spare, indeed to put that in perspective in the year before his arrival in the Premier League we only won 4 games in total .
That emphasises that we have a decent squad that although does need an addition or two is more than capable of mid table in the Premier League, indeed Hasenhuttl's points ratio of just under 1.43 a game will see us safe on 42/43 points if he can keep it up.

In the past two years 44/45 points has been enough to secure a top 10 finish and i would not bet against Hasenhuttl achieving that, yes it is a big ask , but a target to aim for.

But the Austrian is not looking that far ahead, he is taking every game as it comes and although he was very pleased with the win at Leicester and the way it was achieved through adversity, his focus is now on tonight's FA Cup replay against Derby County .

"LEICESTER IS GONE, WE HAVE THE THREE POINTS AND NOW WE ARE FOCUSING ON A VERY TOUGH WEEK"

That is the message coming out of Hasenhuttl and one he is drilling in to his players.

"It was an important win for us, we spoke about that once again on Sunday, as a team. We congratulated them on a very passionate game, with good mentality."

"No one expected us to win after the red card from Valery, but then we put this game away because it is gone and we have the three points and now we are focusing on a very tough week with a replay against Derby and a very important game against Everton — both games at home and both games we want to win."

"Now the games are coming where we have to win and we have to consistently take points.

"We have showed against the good teams we can do it, and also the teams who are in our zone, and that will be important for the next weeks, because we are facing opponents in our zone, so those will be the most important games, six-point games, but first we are focusing on the FA Cup and then on the home game against Everton."

Hasenhuttl is right in several respects, firstly he is right to focus on Derby first, beating them would set us up nicely for the Everton game, the cup run last season was the one bright hope in the season and it reminded the players they could win games, indeed they seemed to have a different mindset in the Cup, they were more confident and more focused and that helped us in ways more than we would know.

From the supporters perspective and indeed perhaps the managers although this game might get in the way a bit it does mean that we will have Pierre Emile Hojbjerg back for Saturday after serving the last match of his suspension and that is a bonus, but if we can win and dispense Accrington Stanley in the next round the cup could be something realistic to aim at if we pull clear of the relegation zone.

Staying up is of course the number one priority and the game against Everton is vital in that, with two straight home games coming up, winning both of them would make the Premier League table look a lot different and suddenly the season might just get exciting.

But first it is one game at a time, there is no doubt that Hasenhuttl's team will look different tonight than it will do for Everton, but we do have a big squad and can cope with that better than most club's down at the bottom.


Photo: Action Images



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underweststand added 10:33 - Jan 16
Of course Ralph is right. It's logical to forget the last game and concentrate on the next.
No one can predict the outcome of the next game, who might get injured..or suspended, and who would be the best choice in the line-up for the next game is unknown.

Derby - tonight, and - weather permitting - Everton on Saturday.


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SaintBrock added 12:04 - Jan 16
Nick, you can never be accused of not flying the flag for Saints but you can get carried away by your own enthusiasm. Talking of 40-odd points and a top ten finish now stretches most people's idea of sanity to the limit when we are still in the midst of a relegation dogfight with half our team crocked and no sign of incomings to ease the situation.

Wishful thinking needs to be tethered to reality, let's just focus on getting to 30 points first and then take it from there and hope that 34 might be enough to avoid the drop.

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codge added 12:28 - Jan 16
I am beginning to wonder if Saints are going to bring anyone in as the signs are that they are happy with the players they have. Seems like we have heard this all before and look what happened, we still need help in the middle of the defense but l fear it won't happen, also some help up front.
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SanMarco added 17:40 - Jan 16
I would have to go with SaintBrock's caution. Some were planning an assault on the European places after we beat Arsenal and top half of the table, although possible, would seem a bit ambitious unless we strengthen. Even so at least we have some optimism now and that must we worth a few points on its own!
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