The Saints are second from bottom in the Premier League table.
Former Southampton defender Jose Fonte has admitted to talkSPORT that The Saints’ current struggles are making for painful viewing while casting doubt on whether Ralph Hasenhuttl is the right man to take the club forward.
It is almost a year since the Austrian coach arrived on the south coast to replace the unpopular Mark Hughes and, considering that Hasenhuttl had guided a thrilling RB Leipzig side to a second place finish in their debut Bundesliga season, big things were expected of him at St Mary’s.
But, as Hasenhuttl closes in on 12 months in the dugout, his Southampton side are stuck in the Premier League’s relegation zone with just two wins to their name this season. That humiliating, historic 9-0 home defeat to Leicester City exposed an alarming brittleness in a side which has fallen so far from the heady days of Ronald Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino.
“Its difficult to watch this struggle, this was a team and a club that was in such great shape a few years ago. We were consistently achieving top six, top ten finishes,” Fonte, who spent seven years at Southampton, told Jim White (21 November, 12pm)
“I think they’re in a bad way, its easy to see for everyone. The manager he doesn’t look like he’s capable of turning things around. I’m not really sure if he can do the job to be honest.”
The Mirror (28 October, page 55) reported in the aftermath of that thrashing by Leicester that the unemployed Chris Coleman was under consideration as Southampton mulled over whether or not to keep the faith with Hasenhuttl.
For now, however, the one-time Ingolstadt coach looks relatively safe and a repeat of last season’s 3-2 victory over Arsenal on Saturday would go some way to silencing the doubters.
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