No more slip-ups warns Pearson
WATFORD boss Nigel Pearson has told his players to bounce back quickly after they “missed an opportunity” to all but secure Premier League survival.
The Hornets could have gone six points clear of the drop zone with two games to play if they had won at the London Stadium but they went down to a damaging 3-1 defeat against West Ham.
Pearson’s side trailed 3-0 at the break and Troy Deeney’s goal early in the second half failed to spark a comeback.
The defeat leaves Watford three points above the bottom three with games against Manchester City and Arsenal to come.
Pearson said: “We’ve missed an opportunity.
“We’ve not done what we talked about doing or looked at doing and that’s a difficult situation.
“We have to make sure we bounce back in the last two games.
“I’m not going to be overly critical especially on an individual level.
“Both sides went into this game with a big chance of almost certainly securing safety and what we’ve done in a spell in the first half is let that situation go and that is really annoying.”
The victory moved West Ham six points above the drop zone with two games left.
Their goals came from in-form Michail Antonio, January loan signing Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice.
Moyes admitted Czech midfielder Soucek reminded him of Belgium star Marouane Fellaini.
He added: “He is young and is going to improve. I can see why you would draw comparisons because of the stature.
“When I came in January our physical stats were poor.
“Thankfully we got Tomas from Slavia Prague because not only does he give us good energy and physicality but he has got a great goalscoring record.”
LEICESTER did their best to wreck it for Ralph Hasenhuttl.
But the Austrian has had the last laugh in a crazy season like no other.
Southampton’s record 9-0 home defeat against the Foxes on a stormy Friday night at the St Mary’s back in October piled the pressure on Hasenhuttl.
As it is, that humiliation was the catalyst for a remarkable transformation in fortunes.
Saints looked dead certs for the drop after that Leicester hiding but will finish the season well clear of relegation.
And former Saints legend Francis Benali believes the battle now will focus on hanging on to their charismatic gaffer as others take note of his South Coast salvage act.
“I remember saying at the time of the Leicester game that this is hopefully the lowest point that we’ll experience,” said Benali.
“They’ve used that setback as a springboard. It could have gone horribly wrong but Ralph stuck to his beliefs, tweaked the formation and the line-up a little bit and the results have been incredible.
“It would have been easy to show him the door but they have shown faith and lot of loyalty to him.
“We saw immediately after the game that he took full responsibility.
“That would have been one of the worst nights of his career and I’m sure that he would have questioned his own ability to be a success.
“It’s great that he had the strength to come through that and get the players going again.
“He has gone back to the drawing board and
RALPH HASENHUTTL has spoken of his pride at changing Southampton from a bunch of whipping boys into a hardcore outfit respected across the top flight.
Since lockdown, the Saints have lost just once – to Arsenal – in seven games in a run that includes beating Manchester City and earning a draw at Manchester United.
Next is a trip to struggling neighbours Bournemouth this afternoon. On current form, that is arguably the toughest clash Eddie Howe’s men could face in what is a must-win game for their slim survival hopes.
It is all a far cry from last September when redoubled his efforts. We’ve seen him sign an extended deal and I genuinely believe this is a long-term project for him.
“I get the feeling the wants to repay the belief and the faith that the club showed in him after that result.
“He’s naturally going to attract the attention of other clubs. We’ve seen that in the past with Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman.
“There may come a point when that happens but I feel he wants to continue the work he is doing at Southampton at this point in time.”
Before that 9-0 drubbing Southampton had picked up eight points in their first 10 matches of the season.
Since that fateful night, they have won 11 out of 21 Premier League matches.
Post-lockdown they have shown just how far they have come by beating Manchester City and drawing at Manchester United.
And keeping Hasenhuttl appears to have been one of the wiser decisions of a 2019-20 season that no one is going to forget in a hurry.
Benali added: “There was never going to be any question of them sacking him. They have showed a huge amount of faith in Ralph.”
And Hasenhuttl has repaid them handsomely. the Cherries turned the Saints over at St Mary’s in a 3-1 romp – and were sitting considerably higher up the table.
Asked if there is a fear factor about Saints now, the Austrian said: “I don’t know if they’re scared about us. Nobody should be scared of their opponent.
“But you can see teams have respect – it’s normal when you’re playing well.
“You recognise that when you go into a game and the opponent is a little bit
– I don’t want to say scared – but playing differently.”
HARRY PRATT