Sports

Day off cancelled and individual meetings – how Hasenhüttl has prepared for Liverpool


This week Ralph Hasenhüttl was inevitably asked how his players will navigate past Virgil van Dijk and, given only Leroy Sané managed to dribble beyond the Dutchman across 56 games for club and country last season, there is no masking the size of that task. Van Dijk will line up against his former club for Liverpool at St Mary’s on Saturday, and the absence of a commanding defender remains a pertinent issue for which they are yet to find a solution.

The decision to operate with three centre-backs more often than not has failed to shore up a defence that kept seven clean sheets in 38 league matches, with Jan Vestergaard, Jan Bednarek and Jack Stephens the latest combination that struggled to convince on the opening day at Burnley.

A frail back line capitulated inside 12 second-half minutes and, as far as Hasenhüttl is concerned, the porousness of the defence is a worrying trend, a recurring theme. How they could lean on someone with the presence and calmness of Van Dijk, who has been nominated for this year’s Ballon d’Or after hardly putting a foot wrong since swapping Southampton for Liverpool 18 months ago for a then world-record fee of £75m. “I know that every club wants to have a centre-back like him,” Hasenhüttl said. “There must be a reason why a club like Liverpool spent so much money on a centre-back and the reason is because he is maybe one of the best in the world.”

The 20-year-old Austria defender Kevin Danso, who signed on loan from Augsburg after Southampton submitted a deal sheet to the Premier League on deadline day, adds to his compatriot’s defensive armoury. Danso, whom the club hold an exclusive option to sign next year, was the third and final summer arrival but arguably the most important piece of the Southampton jigsaw and they could do with him thriving on the south coast as the former Liverpool pair Van Dijk and Sadio Mané did. Danso is the latest example of a return to the recruitment model of young, hungry players who the club believes can develop on their watch.

Saints have conceded 18 goals in their past eight matches and last kept a clean sheet in March, at Brighton, though their record is better if not flawless when Maya Yoshida, the Japan captain, forms part of a three-man defence. The 30-year-old, who this week committed 1% of his annual salary to the club’s charity partner, Saints Foundation, and the longest-serving player after James Ward-Prowse, has started the last three games in which Southampton recorded clean sheets, a sorry record that dates back to the turn of the year.

Maya Yoshida has committed 1% of his salary to the club’s charity partner



Maya Yoshida has committed 1% of his salary to the club’s charity partner. Photograph: Adam Holt/Action Images via Reuters

The tepidness of Southampton’s performance from the hour mark onwards at Burnley – particularly the way they surrendered – led to Hasenhüttl cancelling his players’ day off. It was not the first time either, with the former RB Leipzig manager revoking his players’ downtime in a bid to galvanise his group after defeat in his first match in charge in Cardiff last December.

Hasenhüttl is something of a workaholic coach and returned to England after only a two-week break this summer to focus on preparing for the new season. The first-team squad reported to the club’s Staplewood training complex last Sunday – but not for drills on the pristine grass pitches; instead they reflected on and analysed a disappointing opening-day defeat in the auditorium, with Hasenhüttl also carrying out individual meetings with several players.

The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email.

“I don’t do it to be nasty to the players or something like that. I do it because I think we have things to work on,” he said. “It was important for me to listen and at the end find the right decisions. We worked hard for six weeks and then lose the first game. It doesn’t feel good but in the end it is the first game of 38 [league matches]. It is good that we see very clearly immediately what is missing because it is different winning pre-season games from the first Premier League game without taking a point.

“I think it was 100% necessary we were critical with ourselves. We are in the Premier League, playing against the best teams in the world and the only way to be successful is to do more than they do. If we do more, we can have a good chance to take three points. Everyone knows we can do much better than we did after 60 minutes in Burnley.”

It is not all doom and gloom and, as Hasenhüttl emphasised, their season is still only one game old. Danso has had only three training sessions with his new teammates, including a light session on Thursday after a week of intense training, but Hasenhüttl must be tempted to throw the defender, who started his career at MK Dons, in against Liverpool.

The Mali winger, Moussa Djenepo, could make his debut, while the captain Pierre-Emile Højbjerg will return to the starting lineup after sickness en route to Turf Moor prevented him from starting last weekend. The club remain hopeful of offloading the high-earners Fraser Forster, Guido Carrillo and Mario Lemina before the European transfer deadline on 2 September – most likely on loan.

However, the playmaker Sofiane Boufal, who has been re-integrated after a season’s loan at Celta Vigo and came off the bench at Burnley, looks set to stay and fight for his place. The Moroccan has impressed Hasenhüttl with his attitude and work-rate off the ball since returning and there is a sense that, if Boufal can adapt to his manager’s methods, then he could blossom à la Nathan Redmond, who earned an England recall in May after being given a new lease of life.

The arrival of Liverpool represents a stern test but it is equally a perfect opportunity for Saints to show the fruits of the past week. Hasenhüttl also joked that Jürgen Klopp’s team playing extra-time and penalties in Istanbul allowed him to present more footage to his players to study in training. “I heard the message from Jürgen that he thought we would celebrate they played 120 minutes,” Hasenhüttl said. “I was happy they were playing longer … but mostly because I have more pictures to show my players. My players really like to show up and show that we can be a more difficult to play opponent than we were last week and this is the plan we have.”



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.