Not such a Merry Christmas for some

[Portugalsaint]

Telegraph Sport Football

Ralph Hasenhuttl warns he has too many players ahead of January transfer window

 

Ralph Hasenhuttl is not afraid to ruffle feathers at Southampton

Ralph Hasenhuttl will judge who is up to the task of helping to save Southampton's season, and who is not, once January comes around.

 

The Austrian manager has made waves in his first week at the club, warning his new team that the intensity level is going to be upped in an attempt to salvage their flailing Premier League campaign.*

 

Ahead of their first training session on Friday, the manager said the players could expect him to be “very demanding” from the onset and suggested keeping up with the new pace could be a determining factor in the January transfer window.

 

“I want to bring them to their limits,”*he explained. “If they like to go this way with us they are invited to, and when they follow us it will be an intensive, hard-working way. If someone says it is too much running or work for me they will fall very quick. That’s how I want to work until January and that’s when we look.”

 

Will that mean losing certain players? “I don’t know. I think the squad is very big so we have a lot of positions where we have too much players and maybe one or the other is leaving and we bring something new. I have spoken with the chairman and they do everything to help my wishes.”

 

 

For now though, with just one win in the league so far, Southampton are languishing down in the relegation zone and are facing an uphill struggle with five fixtures before the transfer window opens in the New Year, including against Arsenal and Manchester City.

 

Hasenhuttl addressed the schedule realistically yet remained unfazed by the challenge, saying he aims to draw on the experience of taking Bundesliga 2 side Ingolstadt from the bottom of the league to a 10th place finish in 2013/14.

 

"It’s about five years ago that I have taken over Ingolstadt. This experience helps me a lot," he said. "We were last after seven matches with four points. We had a little bit more time to train which was the good thing there.

 

 

"The first target [at Southampton] is to get out of this relegation zone, it is tough with our schedule over Christmas. I am not frightened about it but the problem is we have a lot of games in the coming days."

 

First up is a relegation battle of sorts away against Cardiff, who are two points ahead of Southampton. Looking ahead to Saturday, Hasenhuttl acknowledged his managerial debut in England would be against one of the EFL's more seasoned bosses in Neil Warnock.*

 

"I know that he has a little bit more experience with games in England than I do, I think he’s a special character," he said. "What you can see in this team is they have a lot of automatism and play very physically and hard work against the ball, so they’re not easy to beat. It’s really a tough game for us and for me in the beginning, after a short time of training, so it will be very tough."

[Micky]

In short, shape up or ship out. Excellent.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

[skintsaint]

 

Unless you're Le Tissier and can control a match at walking pace and score for fun on a McDonalds, there's really no excuse.

 

None of that in our current squad unfortunately.

[Pamplemousse]

I've been saying this for ages, we simply have too much dross in the squad.

[Viking Saint]

I've been saying this for ages, we simply have too much dross in the squad.

 

A lot of fans have been saying this, but it's refreshing to hear it being acknowledged at the top. Sounds like some of the squad are going to have to up their game considerably, and not before time.

[nta786]

It's to think players won't be on board. Yet in a squad as big as ours, someone won't be.

 

I mean, they've seen results, even if they liked Hughes (and I don't think they did), they'd be tired of losing. Trying something different, training harder, getting more instruction from a respected manager...if you don't follow that you're a fcking moron. Even if they only care about their own careers you'd think they'd want to be as fit as possible and on form.

 

Unless you're Le Tissier and can control a match at walking pace and score for fun on a McDonalds, there's really no excuse.

 

Mario Lemina after Hughes got sacked posted on his Instagram saying 'thanks for everything mister, I wish you the best for your future'... and he on paper is arguably our best player

[doddisalegend]

I think we all know the squad is big on numbers and short on quality the problem is getting someone to pay us to take the **** ones and pay them similar wages that we are paying them..

[hackedoff]

Its the bit about bringing them to their limits that worries me. From what I've seen , the vast majority of them are there.

[skintsaint]

Its the bit about bringing them to their limits that worries me. From what I've seen , the vast majority of them are there.

 

Horse****e...look at Bournemouths team tonight, some real bang average players in there but Howe gets them playing well in a certain system, thats what we are missing.

[whelk]

Horse****e...look at Bournemouths team tonight, some real bang average players in there but Howe gets them playing well in a certain system, thats what we are missing.

 

Can anything be average any more or is it always bang average?

I’m interested in knowing the origin now

[skintsaint]

Can anything be average any more or is it always bang average?

 

True . I'm not sure.

[Saint Pete]

In fairness I think we wanted to ship some players out in the summer but in practice it’s hard to do if no one wants them, or at least doesn’t want to pay the wages we have committed to pay them.

 

I like the logic of what Ralph is saying and it’s a good message to the players but making it happen may not be so easy.