Southampton manager Mark Hughes has set his sights on a top-half finish for his side this season.
Speaking to the club’s official website, the Welshman discussed his aims and ambitions for the 2018/19 campaign, with Southampton keen to bounce back after a disappointing season last term.
Hughes took charge of Saints on an interim basis in March and helped them escape relegation down to the Championship. After seeing his new side finish in 17th last season, the former Stoke City boss is hoping that his men can find themselves in the top 10 this time around.
Southampton’s experience since they’ve come back into the Premier League has been success – being a top-half team, playing good football and asking questions of the opposition. That’s the aspiration this year.
I think it was a wake-up call to everybody last year, because nobody anticipated the team would struggle like they did, but thankfully we were able to stay in the league and now we’ve got the opportunity to get back to where we feel we are, which is in the top half of the table pushing for Europe every year.
It gets more and more difficult. You can see this year the amount of money that’s getting spent by teams who are in and around us and have the same ambitions. There are a lot of teams trying to do the same thing. We’ve just got to be better than them.
Southampton got their Premier League campaign off to an adequate start on Sunday afternoon as they were held to a 0-0 draw against a resilient Burnley side.
Nevertheless, Saints will be desperate to get their first win under their belts this weekend as they face a trip to Goodison Park, with Marco Silva’s Everton side waiting in the wings.
