Alex Stewart has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s Tifo Podcast about the European Super League and Southampton’s problems in the second half of the season.
The Saints started this season brilliantly, and in November, they were top of the league and then when they beat Liverpool at the beginning of this year, they were sixth.
However, since that match against the Reds at St Mary’s, Southampton have won just two Premier League games and now find themselves in 14th on 36 points.
It has been an awful second half of the season for the Saints, and Stewart attempted to explain why everything has gone wrong and doesn’t think Ralph Hasenhuttl should take any of the blame.
He said: (41:46) “It’s a conversation that’s bubbling around Southampton supporters a lot as well [is Hasenhuttl overrated].
“I think the answer is no, he is still really good, and I think if you look at the way that Southampton played after the restart, and at the beginning of this season, when a Ralph team is playing well, it’s capable of producing really good, exciting football beating anybody.
(42:20) “I think the issue is the squad is terribly thin.
“There has been a litany of poor recruitment decisions at Southampton stretching back over the last three, four years, really, and so his teams need to be refreshed and reset; otherwise, they run out of steam.”
Do you think Hasenhuttl is to blame for the second half of the season?
No, it is not his fault
Yes, we should be doing better
TIF Thoughts on Hasenhuttl…
The Saints started the season brilliantly, but as time has gone on, the season has taken its toll, and it now looks like the Saints are going to finish in mid-table, which is a shame given their fast start.
However, Hasenhuttl has a project that he wants to build at Southampton, and it will be interesting to see how he is backed in the summer transfer window, to avoid a collapse like this happening again.
In other news: ‘Consequence’ – ESPN pundit airs Southampton weakness