Warnock is braced for Ralph ride
NEIL WARNOCK says Ralph Hasenhuttl’s arrival as Southampton manager has just made life tougher for Cardiff as they bid for successive home wins.
Southampton, third from bottom with nine points, sacked manager Mark Hughes on Monday and face a Cardiff side who are two points and two places above them.
Hasenhuttl, the 51-year-old former RB Leipzig coach, has taken over and watched from the stands on Wednesday as his new side lost 3-1 against Tottenham at Wembley.
He will be hands on for the first time at Cardiff City Stadium today and Warnock said: “They have the best squad in the bottom half of the league.
“Having a new manager does give you a lift. Players who have been bombed out for the previous few weeks will be given a chance to show what they can do.
“It is a clean slate for everyone and if you had the choice, you wouldn’t want to play against a team that had just changed managers. It just makes it even more difficult.
“Whatever system he plays, and they say he does like a 4-4-2, what really matters is what we do. We have to pick ourselves up after West Ham and try to get some points.” The 2-1 home win over Wolves provided Warnock with an early 70th birthday present, but he was brought back down to earth with a 3-1 defeat against the Hammers on Tuesday night.
But Hasenhuttl feels he is in for a tough start to his Saints reign against “special character”
LET’S GO: Warnock wants a pick-me-up Warnock. Hasenhuttl will be making his Premier League debut against one of the most experienced managers in the English game. Warnock has racked up almost 1500 games, managed 15 clubs and won eight promotions, the latest lifting Cardiff in to the Premier League. Hasenhuttl said: “I know that he has a little bit more experience with games in England than I do, he’s a special character. What you can see in this team is they have a good habits and play very physically, and work hard when they haven’t got the ball, so they’re not easy to beat.
“It’s really a tough game for us and for me at the beginning after a short time of training.”
While he may lack English football experience, Hughes’ successor has plenty in keeping clubs up.
Hasenhuettl steered Aalen and Ingolstadt to survival in Germany after taking over both clubs when they were deep in relegation danger.
And his first task is doing the same at Southampton who have won just one of their first 15 league games.
Austrian Hasenhuttl said: “Yes, this experience helps me a lot. It’s a little far away now, it’s about five years ago that I took over Ingolstadt.
“We were last after seven matches with four points. We had a little bit more time and more time to train which was the good thing.
“I can guarantee you that when you see us playing in the summer it will be different than when you see the team now.
“I can’t guarantee you how many results we will earn for that. I hope it is enough to stay in this division…but there is no secret. It’s hard work.
“It’s all about developing on the pitch and in every part of your game, in the mind, in the tactics and also physically.”