HASENHUTTL’S BATTLE CRY

It’s the gospel according to Ralph... and every single Southampton star believes it’s the key to a club revival

IT’S “basic”, it’s “brutal” and, most importantly of all, it’s all there in black and white.

As Jurgen Klopp himself said on Monday night, “it’s not rocket science” to work out just how Southampton beat Liverpool at St Mary’s.

But j ust in case there are any doubts, the words Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl wrote in a book last year clearly spell it out.

The Austrian (below) calls it the Southampton FC Playbook. Developed by the Austrian over years spent coaching in his homeland, it was finally committed to paper during the spring lockdown.

Aimed mainly at academy players, it outlines the high-pressing, all-action style he wants every player at the south-coast club to embrace.

From the 4-2-2-2 tactics that served Hasenhuttl so well when he was at RB Leipzig, to splitting the game into four fundamental phases – with the ball, against the ball, playing the ball and using the ball.

It ticks the ‘basic’ box so o squarely – players at all l levels know what is ex- pected of them.

The ‘ brutal’ element comes from the word used by club captain James Ward-prowse last weekend in his Football Focus interview on BBC1.

“He saved my Southampton career, really,” the England midfielder said of Hasenhuttl before the 1-0 win over Liverpool. “Before he came in, I was in a difficult position and I didn’t know where I stood in terms of playing for the team.

“He came in and had a brutal conversation with me about his demands and what he needed from me.

“That helped me a lot. I knew what he wanted and it was up to me to show him I could do it.

“And in the bigger picture, he has regained the identity of the club.”

And brutal could be used to describe the demands the manager makes of his players.

“He is mad on stats,” striker Che Adams recently revealed. “If we have done enough running, then the session will end, but obviously if we haven’t hit those targets then we keep training until we do.”

The best part of Hasenhuttl’s message, though, is that it gives the Southampton players a sense of conviction.

“There is no fear,” said Ward-prowse. “We are so convinced about the way we play the game, and all the small details that go along with that, that whether our opponents are top of the table or bottom of the table, we apply the same approach, the same mentality, and the same way of playing.

“We are going into every game thinking we can win it.

“The way the manager wants us to play is aggressive and on n the front foot.”

Last season Southampton ton bounced back from a 9-0 home drubbing by Leices- ter to finish comfortably in mi dtable.

Ward- Prowse e does not ot pause for a moment nt when he e is asked what at the a mbi t i o n s are a re this season. n. “This season has s been a really positive ve start,” he said. “For sure ure the realistic goal has as got to be a Europa League eague spot.”

SOBS FOR THE BOYS Hasenhuttl broke down in tears after masterminding a 1-0 win over Liverpool