Southampton stalwart Ryan Bertrand has defended Ralph Hasenhuttl‘s emotional display following the win over Liverpool this month after the manager broke down in tears at the final whistle.
The left-back, who is reportedly on the verge of extending his stay at St Mary’s, felt the need to defend his manager in an interview with Hampshire Live after the Austrian came in for criticism from some quarters over the reaction – former England manager Fabio Capello slammed the outburst as “completely over the top”.
Bertrand said: ”People will have different outlooks and different takes on things but I can only say, knowing the manager, that those emotions are so genuine, I have seen it. We’ve seen it a lot, people saying he has tears in his eyes every week, but you have to understand these moments.”
Hasenhuttl put the reaction down to finally taking points off Jurgen Klopp at the fifth time of asking, whereas Bertrand believes there was more to it, as he elaborated:
Knowing how intense he is and how committed he is to his craft, there was a time when he was emotional with us after we beat Leicester. We lost to them badly and then we went full circle and played them at their place and won, beat them 2-1. So you can understand these reasons.
When you know the person and the understand these reasons then it is actually nice to see, I think.
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Saints fans universally would surely have gotten behind the visual passion of Hasenhuttl.
After serious questions were asked regarding the security of his position following the 9-0 defeat by Leicester last season, each positive step since has felt like a monumental one for the 53-year-old, the most recent and arguably greatest of which was the victory over the reigning Premier League champions.
Cry away, Ralph.
