SPARKY: MY PLAYERS CAN HANDLE THE HEAT
‘We can’t be deflated.. we must keep calm heads’
MARK HUGHES has a simple message for his relegation-haunted players: “Your fate is in your own hands.”
Southampton need at least four points from their final two games to guarantee Premier League safety.
A cruel 96th-minute leveller at Everton on Saturday left them even deeper in the mire and tonight they face a showdown with Swansea that could plunge one of them nearer the Championship.
That is a nightmare scenario for a club that had ambitions of reaching the Europa League places this season, but their new manager says now is not the time to panic.
Instead, he wants his team to think clearly and understand they can still get themselves out of the mess they find themselves in.
He said: “It is just calm heads. You have to deal with pressure, think clearly and take your chances when you create them.
“We mustn’t allow ourselves to be deflated by what is ahead of us. It is still very much in our hands.
“We are playing well so we shouldn’t have any apprehension in terms of what is ahead. It is a question of remaining calm and seeing what we have to do.”
Hughes was furious after the late reverse at Goodison Park, where his side were denied two precious points at the death.
He was annoyed with referee Jon Moss for two decisions which cost his side and even caustically suggested that Moss was not fit enough to officiate at the top level.
Yet the Saints boss swept all that aside to offer a simple insight into what lies ahead, starting with the make-orbreak trip to Swansea.
Hughes believes his side is playing well enough to take something from their final two matches.
“At Everton we played well and we are not damaged in terms of confidence and how we played,” he added.
“We were damaged because we got so close to a significant result and a significant victory which clearly would have helped our situation, but we will get this out of our system and go again.”
Hughes believes his team showed enough at Everton – where they dominated the game and should have won comfortably – to suggest they can get something, not only from Swansea, but also from their daunting final game at home against Manchester City.
“Everybody is writing off the City game in terms of what we can take out of that game – we are not,” he said.
“We will try our utmost to get something out of that game as well.
“But clearly whenever you are in this situation you want to be able to damage the teams around you and clearly Swansea are the team we have to
damage.”