Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has praised the “positive atmosphere” at the club since his arrival and believes Saturday’s victory over Everton was the best under his reign, BT Sport reports.
Saints made it back-to-back victories in the league with the 2-0 win against the Toffees, with James Ward-Prowse’s fine strike and a freak own goal from Lucas Digne taking Hasenhuttl’s tally to 15 points from his opening eight games as manager.
Southampton moved three points clear of the relegation zone following Saturday’s victory, and Hasenhuttl was full of praise for his side.
You can feel it’s a very positive atmosphere at the moment, everyone can identify with the team. The passion they show in every game is amazing and then the wins and all the good results come along the way. I think it was the best performance so far since I’ve been here as manager.
Saints bounced back from a FA Cup defeat in midweek, losing to Derby County on penalties after a frantic 2-2 draw over 120 minutes.
However, the Austrian was happy with the strength shown by his players against Everton and hailed their “fantastic” performance.
You did not see that we were a team that was playing on Wednesday evening [for] 120 minutes. We were physically very strong but what I liked more was we were just footballing fantastic I think.
Hasenhuttl was also full of praise for his central defenders, stating he is happy with the “balance” of his defence.
Jack Stephens has taken the place from Maya Yoshida, and you’d think he’s been playing all this time, in this back five. We’ve worked a lot with this back five and we’ve found this shape and it’s fitting perfectly for us. Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens and Yannik Vestergaard have found each other, and I think they are a very good balance.
