Ralph Hasenhuttl’s year in review as Southampton boss

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Has Ralph Hasenhuttl improved Southampton since his arrival last December?

Southampton sacked Mark Hughes in the first week of December last year and Ralph Hasenhuttl was appointed as the club’s new manager three days later. The Saints were in deep trouble with half of the season still left to play and the Austrian’s first game in charge was a loss to Cardiff City who were on the same boat as them.

A lot of questions were asked following the game questioning Hasenhuttl’s ability to help side extremely low on confidence. However, the former Leipzig boss bounced back immediately with an impressive 3-2 win against Arsenal to kickstart Southampton’s season.

A few impressive victories until the end of the season including ones against Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham helped the Saints stay up despite failing to win any of their last five games. Southampton finished just five points ahead of 18th placed Cardiff and with a full pre-season ahead, a lot was expected of Hasenhuttl.

However, things haven’t been as good as he would have liked as they started off the campaign with back to back defeats against Burnley and Liverpool. Moussa Djenepo, their most exciting summer signing, missed six out of their first 10 games while Che Adams has been hugely disappointing since his arrival.

Southampton’s season went from bad to worse at the end of September when high-flying Leicester City thrashed them 9-0 at the St. Mary’s. A lot of clubs in the world would have sacked their manager immediately after a result like that but the Saints’ board kept their faith in the Austrian to turn their season around.

A draw against Arsenal followed by back to back wins against Watford and Norwich brought back some optimism around the club but Newcastle’s 2-1 win ruined their momentum. Southampton are currently 17th in the league at the moment and relegation is a serious possibility despite being three points ahead of fellow strugglers Aston Villa.

The way Hasenhuttl sets his team out deserves credit but the players, for some reason, panic once they are behind and they almost never recover. The board also deserve a ton of credit for keeping faith in their manager but if things continue in the same way,it will only be a matter of time before he’s on his way out.