Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl expressed his frustration that the ‘gap between the two teams’ is too big after watching his side fall to a 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

The new Premier League season got off to the perfect start for Saints, who went ahead through James Ward-Prowse inside the first 15 minutes.

But it went downhill from there, and at a rate of knots. 

Spurs’ tactic of getting balls into the box was proving difficult for the Saints to cope with, as Ryan Sessegnon and then Eric Dier both scored headers to give the hosts the lead at half-time.

Mohammed Salisu’s own goal in the second half certainly added to the worsening mood, before Dejan Kulusevski’s low finish completed the rout.

 

'You have to defend quite well... which we didn't do'

“We had a very good start today,” Hasenhuttl said after the match.

“To go in the lead, everything went in our direction and then we defended a little bit deeper in our shape and then conceded two goals from crosses where we don’t have enough pressure on the ball.

“This is the key on the shape, sometimes you’re a little bit passive, you invite them to cross, you have to defend quite well in the box which we didn’t do in this moment.

“It felt a little bit like the opponent switched into the next gear and we cannot follow, after the first twenty minutes.

“This is frustrating to see how big the gap is between the two teams to be honest.

"After the first goal they had the feeling that they were absolutely in the game and then they smashed us with their crosses, we couldn’t defend in the way we wanted to.”

Changes didn't pay off

The Austrian looked to change the tempo at half-time with a double change – Jack Stephens and Stuart Armstrong coming off the bench – but it didn’t make the desired impact.

Embed from Getty Images

“Not the reaction we wanted from the new team,” he added.

“It’s not about changing shape, it’s about not conceding the third goal. The own goal in the second half was what killed the game.

“We will definitely have to answer a few questions for ourselves because we can see this is not our final solution, this is not the way we want to go.

“It’s always tough to defend against such teams, last year we conceded two goals and scored three so we have to have a balance of how deep we are sitting. In the end, we have lack of quality in every part of our game. In every team, they show you what you are missing."

Promising debuts

The match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium marked the Premier League debuts of Romeo Lavia, Joe Aribo and Gavin Bazunu, which proved to be just a small consolation on otherwise a day to forget for the Saints.

“I think a few good things I’ve seen from the guys and a few things they have to learn,” commented Hasenhuttl.

“Overall, it was important for them to take the first step and see immediately what the Premier League is about.”

VAVEL Logo
About the author