POTTER WOWED BY RALPH’S RECOVERY
GRAHAM POTTER says Southampton are one of the teams of the season ahead of his return to his former club tonight.
The Brighton boss played alongside Matt Le Tissier in the Saints side which beat Manchester United 6-3 at their former ground, The Dell.
But from a 9-0 home thrashing by Leicester in October, Ralph Hasenhuttl has led his side to mid-table security – and their spirit was shown when securing a stoppage-time equaliser at Old Trafford on Monday.
“I can’t speak highly enough of him,” said Potter. “We tend to focus on the coaches that win and we like that story but there is a story that is even more powerful.
“One that has been a real on-the-knees at one point, knocked to the floor pretty much because the result was a damaging one.
“All credit to Ralph, his staff and the players how they’ve used that to galvanise them, used that to improve and I think they’ve been one of the teams of the season in terms of just recovering from that huge setback.
“I would put him up there as one of the top three performers in the league in terms of coaching performance.”
Saints striker Danny Ings has been hailed as Southampton’s jack of all trades and master of one by boss Hasenhuttl.
He can become the club’s first player to hit 20 Premier League goals in a season since James Beattie in 2003 if he finds the net tonight.
Hasenhuttl said: “It is not just about his goalscoring.
“He works so hard for the team all the time – you saw how he won the ball against Paul Pogba on Monday night which led to our first goal.
“He’s a guy who knows how to press so he is our first defender, sometimes our No.10 and also our goalscorer.
“So it is definitely a big role he has for us.
“Reaching 20 would be a great achievement because he never scores a penalty and he is not playing for one of the big teams.”
The Saints boss will freshen up his side after the high-energy display at United.
“Brighton have had two more days since their last game so it will be difficult,” he said.
“But I will make changes so that cannot be an excuse.”