New Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl takes to the dugout for the second time on Sunday afternoon as we host Arsenal at St Mary’s Stadium.
With disappointment against Cardiff City in his first game in charge, this will be an incredibly tough match to get anything from given Arsenal’s form, but fans can certainly be hoping to see noticeable improvements in our performance – even if the result doesn’t yet follow.
To boost the atmosphere at the ground a touch the club have/will be, distributing a free beer (or other drink) token for the game to long-suffering season-ticket holders and our Austrian manager is hoping fans can toast a victory.
Speaking to Sky Sports as he met with the media ahead of the game, he made it clear it was all about improving and surviving and in knowing the fans had their own part to play in that, he wanted to play his part in taking them on a journey.
“Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a guy who always brings everyone in our boat to row with us. It’s very important to have a good relationship. I talked a lot of times about that you can feel every day that Southampton football club is a very, very important part of everybody’s life here in this area. Everyone wants to keep this club in this division so for us it’s a big chance to help them get lucky again and all we want to do is to make it possible that we have fantastic moments again and emotional moments. You never know, maybe on Sunday comes the first since a long time in St Mary’s Stadium. They can celebrate whenever they want with the free drinks, and if they can celebrate a win on Sunday they should do it and I’m the first to congratulate them.”
It’s not quite Christmas yet, but three points would be a nice present.
