New saviour Hasenhuttl is already better than Poch

‘WELCOME to Ralphampton,’ read the advertising hoardings outside St Mary’s. After four wins from eight Premier League games, Southampton fans would happily rename the city in tribute to their manager Ralph Hasenhuttl. Like Mauricio Pochettino in January 2013, the Austrian arrived to scepticism. ‘Ralph who?’ Within 18 months, Pochettino had become a household name. Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy certainly knew who he was. And we know how that story panned out. Of course, it is too early to be branding Hasenhuttl the next Pochettino. But you can’t escape the comparisons. Plucked from relative obscurity, the former Red Bull Leipzig manager has invigorated a squad who looked to be going in one direction under Mark Hughes: down to the Championship. ‘We saw at the beginning that we had a lot of deficits, physically and tactically. It’s all about investment and we made a big one in the last seven weeks,’ Hasenhuttl said after Saturday’s win over Everton. ‘It’s nothing easy, it’s hard work and we made some good decisions, which means giving players a chance and the players have paid us back.’ In fact, Hasenhuttl’s 13-point return from his first eight league games is better than Pochettino’s. By contrast, Everton manager Marco Silva is discovering first-hand that living up to reputation isn’t easy. Two wins in 10 Premier League games is a worryingly poor trot. Despite Gylfi Sigurdsson’s late strike, the Toffees never looked like leaving with anything after James Ward-Prowse’s opener and an own goal from Lucas Digne. ‘In our attack in the last few games, we haven’t created a big number of chances to score and we have to change this situation,’ admitted Silva. SOUTHAMPTON (3-5-2): McCarthy 7; Bedarek 7.5, Stephens 7, Vestergaard 7; Valery 6.5, Hojbjerg 7, Romeu 7, WARD-PROWSE 8, Targett 6 (Cedric 35min, 6.5); Redmond 7 (Armstrong 86), Ings 7 (Long 74, 6). Subs not used: Gunn, Gallagher, Slattery, Ramsay. Scorers: Ward-Prowse 50, Digne 64 (og). Booked: Redmond, Long. Manager: Ralph Hasenhuttl 7.5. EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Pickford 6.5; Coleman 6.5, Keane 7, Zouma 6.5, Digne 6.5; Gueye 6.5, Gomes 6.5 (Calvert-Lewin 57, 6); Lookman 6, Sigurdsson 6, Bernard 6.5 (Walcott 75, 6); Richarlison 5.5 (Tosun 65, 6). Subs not used: Stekelenberg, Baines, Mina, Davies, . Scorer: Sigurdsson 90+1. Booked: Gueye. Manager: Marco Silva 6. Referee: Graham Scott 6. Attendance: 29,989.