DON’T SLIP BACK, SAINTS ARE WARNED
RALPH HASENHUTTL has warned his Southampton players he will not tolerate any slacking off at Huddersfield today.
The Austrian got his first win as Saints boss as they beat Arsenal 3-2 in a thriller last weekend.
The south coast strugglers have not won back-to-back games since April 2017.
Hassenhuttl said: “I think the last time we had two consecutive wins was a long time ago.
“You can be sure, as long as I am manager here, that if I have the feeling that one guy makes one step less, I will tell him. And when I tell him, I am sure he will immediately improve.
“The main goal for me is that I see all the players are learning quickly and that was only the beginning. The fundamentals are now built.
“Saturday against Huddersfield will be a completely different game and we want to show how far we are in our development and maybe we can take a win.
“It’s a six-point game. I think the win against Arsenal will be really important when we can also get a few points in Huddersfield.”
Hasenhuttl expects the trip to Yorkshire to be every bit as tough as his first game in charge at Cardiff, which Southampton lost.
He said: “No one thought we could take something against Arsenal but against Huddersfield it’s a completely different situation.
“Against Arsenal we were not the favourite and now it’s about a 50-50 game in Huddersfield. We had such a game against Cardiff and we want to show now we are one step further in our development.” LES REED has been named the Football Association’s new technical director.
The 66-year-old succeeds Dan Ashworth, who will take up a new role with Brighton in the spring.
Reed, who was dismissed as Southampton vice-chairman last month, said: “I am honoured to be appointed at such an exciting time for the game in this country.”
“He did well in Germany and everyone saw against Arsenal that he has started very well at Southampton.
“He likes to really play offensive football and press the opponents high. We saw against Arsenal that this is one of their strengths.
“For us, it is not too easy to judge Southampton because they have played just one (home) game under their new manager.
“But those of us who played in Germany know a little bit more about him and his teams than maybe the English guys.”
Despite those good results against Hasenhuttl, Hadergjonaj was relegated with Ingolstadt two seasons ago before joining Town.
Huddersfield, second bottom in the Premier League, stayed up last season by fighting to the end.
They will need to do the same this time around, and Hadergjonaj said: “What happened to us last season is a big help to us now.
“The new players do not have that experience but we tell them that to stay positive and keep believing is the key to staying up.”