The appointment of Ralph Hasenhuttl last season was as an ambitious move from Southampton, yet not even a year into his tenure on the south coast, you can see that things are different.
The former RB Leipzig manager has installed a newfound belief into the Saints that once seemed missing under former boss Mark Hughes, yet Hasenhuttl has come through the front door and transformed the club in a way not many would have expected.
And no player reflects this change more than defender Jan Bednarek, who under the old regime was nothing but a squad player, a defender who would come on for cup games and for the odd missing centre-back through injury as numbers from Transfermarkt show.
With Hasenhuttl, though, the Polish international has become one of the focal points of the squad, playing every minute of the Premier League season as numbers from Transfermarkt show, and in a recent interview with The Guardian, Bednarek admits that life around the club seems more positive and ambitious under Hasenhuttl.
The 23-year-old centre-back said: “We are not scared of anyone with this manager. The vibe here is very good. Because we press high, it doesn’t matter if it’s Chelsea, Liverpool or Wolverhampton, we try to do the same things with the same attitude and the same energy. I think the bravery of this coach is much bigger.”
The players love him, fans adore him even more, yet results could be better in this new era for Southampton, but this is something Bednarek knows that can and will improve if the Saints want to avoid yet another season being drawn into a relegation battle.
The defender added: “Every game we are getting better, we cause a lot of problems for opponents but there are a lot of things still to improve. I think everyone is aware we can still do better and I think this season we will do.”
The aim with Hasenhuttl is seemingly to take the club back to where they once were not too long ago in the Premier League, a side that could finish in the top-seven and go toe-to-toe with the big boys of the division, and with a manager as confident as the Austrian, you have to think he can take them back to this level.
