Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl had plenty to celebrate on Saturday as Southampton put the September international break behind them, and made it three unbeaten by taking a narrow 1-0 victory over newly promoted Sheffield United.
With Moussa Djenepo overcoming injury to make his first Premier League start of the year following his summer arrival, our Austrian gaffer was largely pleased with the offensive display on show given the options now available to him, but he was just as delighted with our defensive showing – the game was apparently our third successive away win with conceding a goal across all competitions since 1986, but that’s one for the stato’s.
It was a tight game against Chris Wilder’s side, and until the sending off of Billy Sharp, they were certainly pushing for the equaliser but as quoted by Four Four Two, the gaffer was determined to take the positives where he could given the improvements he’s seeing in the squad.
“It’s important. I think that was the biggest problem last season. This season it’s not the case that we don’t give them any chances, they still have chances because it’s very difficult in the Premier League to not give them a chance. Also the goalkeepers Angus and Alex McCarthy make a good development this season and the back five were very concentrated. It is good to see things develop that you have been working on. This can hopefully continue. Finally you need a bit of luck also, but luck you have to work for and I think in the moment it was a deserved win for us because we worked hard and we believe in what we’re doing.”
With summer arrivals still settling in, and some players still to hit their best form – whilst there will be wobbles and some fans have easy go-to players for criticism, at least we seem to still be on a small upward curve here, and we’d have all taken that after the last few years at St Mary’s Stadium.
Previous Article:
“Always In Contact” – Hasenhuttl Wants To See Another Key Southampton Man Pen A New Contract
