HUGHES: STAY CALM TO AVOID A STORM
MARK HUGHES has told his Southampton flops keeping a calm head is vital to turning their sorry season around.
Hughes will face a battle to keep his job as manager if Saints lose at fellow strugglers Fulham today.
But the Welshman said: “All the negative stats come out and it is what it is.
“It becomes predictable and you understand how it works. There is nothing I’ve seen in this job that fazes me any more.
“We know we aren’t a million miles away from what we need to do. “We are calm,
which is key. There is no need to get panicked in this situation because we do a lot of good things within the group.
“You don’t get too giddy when you are doing well and you don’t get too down when things aren’t going your way.
“The team gets confidence and support from that. We have given them the knowledge they need going into the games.
“They will never say they are lacking in that area.”
Fulham have the worst defensive record in the Premier League after conceding 31 goals in their first 12 games.
But Hughes (top) expects them to be a lot more resolute with new boss Claudio Ranieri in charge.
The Saints boss said: “Claudio is Italian, and you can imagine the work he has been doing with the group. He has a good defensive group there.”
Hughes has been giving his goal-shy squad extra finishing sessions during the international break because they have only scored eight times this season. Winger Nathan Redmond (circle) said: “We have done a lot of finishing drills to gain confidence in front of goal, but also crossing drills.
“It’s not rocket science but creating chances and scoring goals is probably the hardest thing in football.
“It’s not been too bad in training. It can come to a game and you’ll get five chances and you might score one.
“In training, you’d probably score all five.
“It’s difficult in front of 40,000 people every week, but that’s just the nature of the job.”
Saints are currently engaged in an internal review following the sackings of vice-chairman Les Reed and technical director Martin Hunter.
But Hughes insists that has not been a distraction. He added: “I think the players just get on with it. The club is looking to strengthen the areas it feels it needs to.
“But it’s not a case of ripping the template up because there is no need to do that.
“There isn’t a lot that we are doing wrong here.” 3rd TEST (day 1 of 5) Colombo: England 312-7 (J Bairstow 110, B Stokes 57, P Sandakan 4-91) v Sri Lanka
1st TEST (day 2 of 5) Chittagong: Bangladesh 324 (M Haque 120, J Warrican 4-62, S Gabriel 4-70) & 55-5 v West Indies 246 (N Hasan 5-61)
2nd T20 INTERNATIONAL Melbourne: Match abandoned due to rain. Australia 132-7 v India INTERNATIONAL T20 SERIES North Sound: India Women 112 v England Women 116-2 (A Jones 53 no, N Sciver 52 no) England Women win by 8 wkts
PRINCIPALITY PREMIERSHIP Bridgend (8) 16 Bedwas (19) 22 Cross Keys (0) 19 Aberavon (33) 47 Pontypridd (33) 43 Newport (13) 25
DAVIS CUP WORLD GROUP FINAL, Lille, France: Match 1: B Coric (Cro) bt J Chardy (Fra) 6-2 7-5 6-4, M Cilic (Cro) bt J-W Tsonga (Fra) 6-3 7-5 6-4 Croatia lead France 2-0
WORLD CUP, Melbourne, Australia, 2nd Rnd scores & totals (Par 72):
-10 Korea (BH An/SW Kim) 62 72, Belgium (T Pieters/T Detry) 63 71 -8 England (T Hatton/I Poulter) 62 74, Malaysia (G Green/ B Leong) 63 73, India (A Lahiri/ G Bhullar) 64 72, Italy (A Pavan/ R Paratore) 65 71
-7 Mexico (A Ancer/R Diaz) 67 70 -6 Scotland (R Knox/M Laird) 67 71, Australia (M Leishman/ C Smith) 62 76
HONG KONG OPEN, China, 2nd Rnd scores & totals (GB & Irl unless stated, par 70):
-14 A Rai 65 61
-10 H-W Park (Kor) 68 62
-8 M Fitzpatrick 70 62 133
-7 ML Shin (USA) 66 67
-6 J Scrivener (Aus) 65 69, S Hend (Aus) 68 66, A Da Silva (Bra) 70 64, T Fleetwood 69 65, J Higginbottom (Aus) 69 65, A Quiros (Spa) 68 66 2nd TEST (day 1 of 5) Dubai: Pakistan v New Zealand (6)
INTERNATIONALS
England v Australia (3) France v Fiji (8.05) Ireland v USA (6.30)
Italy v New Zealand (2) Scotland v Argentina (2.30) Wales v South Africa (5.20) GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP Exeter v Gloucester (1)
Sale v Northampton (1) Wasps v Bristol (1)
GUINNESS PRO14
Cheetahs v Benetton (12.30) CHAMPIONSHIP CUP
Pool 1: Coventry v Nottingham (3), Yorkshire Carnegie v Doncaster (12)
Pool 2: Jersey v Richmond (3) PRINCIPALITY PREMIERSHIP RGC 1404 v Llanelli (1)
BBL CHAMPIONSHIP
Bristol Flyers v Worcester (7.30) London Royals v Newcastle (7.30)