Ralph Hasenhuttl reacts to Newcastle’s style of play

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Newcastle United beat Southampton 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has told The Chronicle that he thought his side were the only team trying to play football in their defeat to Newcastle United.

The Saints made the long trip up to Tyneside on Sunday afternoon, and were in great spirits after two home wins over Watford and Norwich City.

Hasenhuttl saw his side go ahead against Newcastle, as in-form Danny Ings scored yet again, opening the scoring to take his tally to eight goals in his last 10 games.

As has often been the case with Southampton though, they couldn’t build on their lead and kill the game off, and that came back to haunt them again as Newcastle struck.

Andy Carroll crossed for Jonjo Shelvey to head home the leveller, before Alex McCarthy spilled Sean Longstaff’s long-range effort, allowing Federico Fernandez to get in and score.

That win takes Newcastle into the top 10, with fans surely impressed with the work Steve Bruce has been doing of late, picking up four wins in the last six games.

However, not everybody is impressed, as Southampton boss Hasenhuttl has admitted that he thought his Saints side were the only team playing football at St James’ Park.

Hasenhuttl highlighted the impact of striker Andy Carroll, suggesting that he is ’10 feet tall’ and Newcastle resorted to playing long balls up to him when they were struggling to deal with Southampton.

“I don’t know what my opponent [Steve Bruce] said before he was here, and I don’t know how he saw the game, but I saw only my team playing football to be honest,” said Hasenhuttl. “We didn’t get three points but that’s football sometimes, they had two chances and got the goals.”

“That’s sometimes a pity but if we look on the three performances this week, two wins at home, and a brave game away from home, maybe our best of the season, I must be proud of how the players played. When the opponent was really struggling, they tried to play the long balls to [Andy] Carroll and that isn’t easy to defend as everybody knows he is 10 feet tall,” he added.