Speaking on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, Jonathan Northcroft raved about Southampton manager, Ralph Hasenhuttl.
Prior to his arrival on the south coast on December 6th 2018, Southampton were sitting in 18th place in the Premier League table, having picked up just nine points after 15 games, with a record of one win, six draws and eight losses.
However, following his appointment, the 53-year-old eventually guided Saints to a 16th placed finish in the league, five points above the relegation zone, after winning eight, drawing six and losing nine of the club’s remaining 23 Premier League fixtures that season.
In total, Hasenhuttl has overseen 75 games at the club, of which he has won 28, drawn 16 and lost 31, guiding Saints to an 11th placed finish in his first full season in charge.
And, the job the former RB Leipzig manager has done with Southampton was one topic of conversation on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, in which Jonathan Northcroft heaped praise on Hasenhuttl, as well as claiming there is an ‘echo’ of Mauricio Pochettino in the Saints boss.
He said: “I love Hasenhuttl. I think he’s one of those guys that comes on your screen and you just instinctively think, ‘I wouldn’t mind him at my club’. He’s got that glint in his eye, he’s a guy you’d want to follow, and when you speak to Southampton players they say, ‘he’s funny, he’s brilliant, he’s inspiring’. He’s really popular in the dressing room and we saw that when he dug himself back from the brink after that defeat to Leicester last year.
“Of course, his CV is pretty impressive. He has a very distinct brand of football. The Klopp of the Alps. He’s got the pressing game and the intensity and the attacking commitment – [his] teams are great to watch. There’s an echo of Pochettino in that he’s creating a team that’s so much better than the sum of their parts.
“He’s also getting so much out of players that we knew were quite good anyway, like Danny Ings. Then you look at [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg going to [Tottenham Hotspur], he took Hojbjerg’s game on and produced a player that could be sold to ‘bigger club’, which, again, is a bit like the Pochettino era.
“In a sane league, he would probably have a chance of one of the bigger jobs, but I don’t think that’s how the Premier League works, sadly. I don’t think he’s deemed sexy enough, but I think he could certainly do a job at any of those top clubs.”
Can you see Ralph Hasenhuttl being lured away by a bigger club this season?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts on Jonathan Northcroft’s comments regarding Ralph Hasenhuttl…
From Northcroft’s comments, it is clear that the journalist is a big fan of Hasenhuttl and the job the Austrian has done at Southampton, comparing the 53-year-old to former Spurs and Saints boss, Pochettino.
However, Northcroft also goes on to state his belief that the “bigger” clubs in the Premier League may not consider Hasenhuttl for the job of manager at their club, as, in the journalist’s words, he isn’t “deemed sexy enough”, which, as a Southampton fan, must be very pleasing to hear.