SHIVER ME TIMBERS!

Hasenhuttl wants his Saints to be pirates and launch for the top of the league for the first time since 1988

RALPH HASENHUTTL wants his Southampton side to play like “pirates”, so they can “grab points from big teams”.

Saints could go top of the Premier League for the first time since the competition started, if they beat Newcastle at St Mary’s tonight.

An d Ha s e n h u tt l w a n t s to continue plundering results against the big ships in the top flight. Saints have been top of the pile before, but that was back in September 1988, in the days of the old First Division.

Few would have predicted they could be vying for top spot this season, given it is little over a year since Leicester thrashed them 9-0.

Manager Hasenhuttl figured that might well be the end of his reign as pirate captain, but Saints stayed loyal and, thanks to a good finish, they ended up a respectable 11th.

Now, they are unbeaten in five games ( Ja m e s Wa rd - P r o w s e celebrates scoring against Aston Villa, right) and Hasenhuttl wants more booty. He said: “We like to be the pirates – it’s more fun than to join the Navy.

“It’s something we use every day – it makes it fun to go and grab some points from the big teams.”

Saints’ progression will not be made any easier with Danny Ings out for six weeks with a knee injury.

And Hasenhuttl warned: “We have played seven games in a very long season. I have seen so many teams at the beginning being top of the table, then relegated. We know a few injuries can change everything. But we take it as a signal that, at the moment, we are a very strong side, and have shown that we can have a high level of performing.

“There’s no guarantee that it goes on for the whole season. There are teams out there who have much more opportunity. Bigger squads and more quality in every position – teams that can put two first-teams on the pitch without a problem.

“You cannot compare pare them to us. We have ave different targets. For us, it’s a success if you are in the top-half of the table. But that doesn’t mean you don’t want to win against t these teams. We go into every game to be successful. sful.

And the good thing ng for me is that we e show this mentality much more.

“Before I came e here, I was at RB B Leipzig, where losing was nearly not allowed, because we wanted to be top in Germany. ny. I tried to implement this mentality from the first day I came.

“Always bottom m of the table and struggling g to stay up – that is not what t I want.”

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