Hasenhuttl dismayed by clear gap in quality

RALPH HASENHUTTL found it impossible to conceal his dismay after Southampton crashed to a heavy defeat at Tottenham and extended their terrible run of Premier League form into the new campaign.

‘It’s frustrating but not completely surprising that this game can go in such a direction,’ said the Southampton manager after the 4-1 hammering at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

‘I don’t have the feeling we are completely lost but we had problems with all this quality they have. We played against maybe the best strikers in the world here. If you have to defend one against one it’s tough, and not surprising for me. We are still unable to keep a clean sheet and we were pretty far from one today.’

James Ward-Prowse gave Southampton the lead but they held that for less than 10 minutes and disintegrated in the second half.

Hasenhuttl said: ‘We had a good start. We were brave, had good moments, scored a good goal. It felt a little bit like the opponents switched into the next gear and we couldn’t follow after the first 20 minutes.

‘They are a strong side. They have strengthened their team. They have quality everywhere. It was frustrating to see how big the gap is, to be honest.’

Mohammed Salisu’s own goal, slicing a simple clearance into his own net for Tottenham’s third, summed the performance up. Hasenhuttl said: ‘This is individual quality. It is easy to clear the ball with the right foot. This is simply not good enough at this level.

‘It’s not easy to stop individual errors but we will work on this, to find solutions.

‘We know the Premier League shows your every weakness. It’s tough to defend here but we will find a way to do it better.’