The Saints host Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs in the Premier League on Saturday.
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has been preparing his side for Saturday’s Premier League home game against Tottenham Hotspur and, speaking ahead of the fixture, he spoke about what he feels makes Spurs so hard to defend against.
Mauricio Pochettino’s charges are third in the Premier League table and, even though their domestic form has taken a downturn in recent weeks, their Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund will undoubtedly have increased confidence.
The Saints, meanwhile, aren’t having the best of times either in the league, and even though they did beat Fulham 2-0 at the end of February, they were left heartbroken when Romelu Lukaku’s late winner gave Manchester United a 3-2 win last time out.
That said, Hasenhuttl is feeling optimistic for the game against Tottenham and has urged his players to take the lessons from the Red Devils game – specifically their great performance – into this weekend’s match at St Mary’s, and after breaking down Spurs’ strengths, warned them that Saints can be “a nasty opponent”.
Speaking to the Southampton website, he said: “This team is also part of the Champions League and has showed how it can combine technical performance with tactical performance and that together is very hard to defend, because if they have the ball they can find the best pass in the best moment to find the right player.
“They also have a very flexible shape, flexible playing with the ball, so it’s very hard to defend this team. It is not a coincidence they are performing so well in the Premier League – although Kane was out with injury for a long time, they were still winning.”
Southampton currently sit 17th in the table, two points above the relegation zone, while Spurs are 10 points behind leaders Manchester City with nine games left to play.
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