Ralph’s faith pays off for super Shane
SHANE LONG was thinking about changing his name to ‘How Long’ before Ralph Hasenhuttl breezed into town.
The Austrian boss really must have questioned whether he had time to play the Long game at all at struggling Southampton.
The Irish striker went into this one looking for his first goal of the season, having not scored since April of last year – a drought of 279 days.
Even so, Long has featured in six of the seven matches since Hasenhuttl took over – and his patience was finally rewarded.
Blasted
Long scored a killer goal on the stroke of half-time, immediately after Saints had been reduced to 10 men after Yan Valery picked up a second yellow for a needless tug on Marc Albrighton.
Astonishingly, his last four goals for the club have come under four different managers – Claude Puel, Mauricio Pellegrini, Mark Hughes and now Hasenhuttl.
It was Long who had been brought down for the 11th-minute penalty which James Ward-Prowse blasted home. Long then struck what proved to be the vital blow.
Leicester got one back through Wilfred Ndidi and though they threw everything at Saints in a one-sided second half, couldn’t salvage a point.
That’s 10 points from seven games for the new gaffer – before he arrived Saints had nine from 15 games. Time for Schmeichel 6; LEICESTER (4-5-1):
6, Maguire 6, Pereira 6, Morgan 46, 6),
6, Mendy 4 (Barnes Chilwell 6; Ndidi
76), Albrighton 5 Choudhury 6 (Ghezzal
7; Vardy 6. Subs: (Gray 46, 6) MADDISON
Soyuncu, Iheanacho. Ward, Simpson,
(a), Premier League,
UP NEXT: Wolves
Saturday. (3-5-2): McCarthy SOUTHAMPTON
Stephens 7,
7; BEDNAREK 8, 7,
3, Ward-Prowse Vestergaard 7; Valery
6 (Soares 57, 6), Romeu 6, Armstrong
7 (Gallagher 90), Targett 6; Redmond
76). Subs: Gunn, Long 7 (Slattery
Ramsay. Elyounoussi, Sims,
(h), FA Cup, Wednesday. UP NEXT: Derby
Oliver 8.
Referee: Michael who Which midfielder,
YOUR TURN:
of the club’s south now plays for one Southampton’s coast rivals, scored when they last beat penalty winner
– 2-1 in the Championship Leicester away in December 2007? lift-off and his players believe they can do it.
Long said: “There was a lot of pressure on me going into the game but the gaffer has shown me a lot of confidence.
“It is hard work, especially when you go down to 10 men. Everybody has got on board with the way the manager wants to do it and it’s working on the pitch.
“We know the quality is there for us to get out of it. Things are looking up, we’ve got games coming up that we can get three points from.
“It’s not going to be easy but we are fully confident in our ability to get out of it.”
Leicester huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow the house down, sparking even more abuse of boss Puel, who looks to be fighting a losing battle with the fans.
England defender Harry Maguire believes the terrace tension is seeping onto the pitch, saying: “The frustration comes from our performances at home.
“At home against the bottom eight we haven’t been good enough and we hold our hands up there.
“Southampton didn’t create a chance and didn’t have a shot.
“We gave them two goals through two errors. It is always tough when a team sits behind the ball then.
“We have dominated the second half and had 85 per cent possession, numerous crosses and shots without probably creating that clear-cut chance.”