Hasenhuttl enjoying his time in ‘toughest league in the world’

Dan Butterfield
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl is enjoying his time with the Saints as he reaches three years with the club.

Hasenhuttl joined Southampton in 2018, succeeding mark Hughes in the St Mary’s dugout and has seen mixed success during his time on the south-coast.

Famously, the Austrian manager has overseen two 9-0 defeats at Southampton, to Leicester and Manchester United respectively.


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The Saints mixed bag of results have continued this season as they currently find themselves sat in 15th places in the Premier League, five points clear of the relegation zone.

However, despite the inconsistent form of Southampton, Hasenhuttl is enjoying his time on the south-coast.

“It is a wonderful place to live. I love the people, I love the respect they give to you in every part of life here,” said Hasenhuttl.

“There’s not a lot that I miss, maybe sometimes the mountains from Austria but they are not running away, they are waiting for me when I stop here. I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t think it was tough, I knew that it would be tough.

“The main goal is to stay in the league and it’s a surviving fight every game with the limits we have as a club but I think we’ve made some good progress.

“Even if we sell players for a lot of money we are trying to rebuild the team, this is the way we have to go.

“I enjoy my job everyday, it’s fantastic to work at this club with my staff.”

The 54-year-old continued: “The league is getting stronger, harder every year. There is so much money in the league and the best players are coming to the league and not everybody can play in the top six teams so they to go to teams who are below them.

“Everybody is developing their games and there are very good managers in this league. It’s the toughest league in the world.

“It’s so enjoyable to manage here because you learn a lot, I am definitely a much better manager since the three years that I’ve been here.”

The Saints take on Brighton on Saturday as both sides look to return to winning ways, but Hasenhuttl is aware it will be a tough challenge.

“We’re playing a team that is very organised and we have to have a clear game plan.

“In some moments we have to surprise them with new things, when you do this then maybe you have a chance to have a successful game.

“We play at home, we have shown in the past that we are this season much better here and we have to trust in our game.”