Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl could be facing doubts over his long-term future with the club after a “wretched” run of form, according to talkSPORT pundit Jason Cundy.
The Saints were on the wrong end of another result in the Premier League on Tuesday evening, losing 3-0 at Leeds United. That extended their winless run in the league to eight matches, seven of which have been defeats. Those results have seen them slide down the table and they are now just eight points clear of Fulham in 18th place.
Hasenhuttl had received plenty of admiration for the job he had done in the first half of the season to establish the Saints among the group of teams chasing the European places. The Austrian was even linked with the Chelsea job before Thomas Tuchel’s appointment, but things are now looking rather different for the Saints and their manager.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Cundy suggested that there must now be doubts over Hasenhuttl’s future if their poor form continues, although he did say that he likes the way Southampton play and set up under the Austrian. However, he believes they will be in relegation trouble if their performances and results do not quickly improve in coming games, saying:
I think you have to say they are (in a relegation scrap). If they play like that over the next eight or nine games and they get the same results, they’re in it, so something’s got to change.
“There has to be doubts (about Hasenhuttl’s future), doesn’t there? There has to be doubts, but I like the way he sets his team up actually. I like the way Southampton play. They pass through the lines, they go through the middle of the park, they keep it. They’ve got some technically really gifted players. But they’ve just hit a wretched, wretched run and they are in a tailspin.
Losing becomes a habit when you go on the field and, once you go a goal down, it’s like ‘can we get ourselves back into this’, and that’s the problem they’ve got right now. They are absolutely looking over their shoulder more than they are looking up.
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Cundy is certainly right to suggest that there could now be questions asked of Hasenhuttl, and his admission that the players ‘gave up’ in the second half of the defeat at Leeds is a very concerning one. The Austrian is clearly a very capable manager and, when he has had an injury-free squad available, the Saints have performed well this term. However, this current slump cannot be ignored.
Replacing Hasenhuttl now does not seem to be on the immediate agenda for the Saints. However, a couple more defeats might have to alter that stance. There may be questions over whether it would be too late to make a change at this stage and it would still be a major surprise if they end up going down from the position they are in at the moment.
It is a very difficult time for Southampton, but they need to show fighting spirit and Hasenhuttl has to find a way of restoring confidence and getting the best out of what he has available to him at the moment.
