TalkSport reporter Alex Crook has slammed Southampton’s Ralph Hasenhuttl and Jan Bednarek for their team selection decision during their recent FA Cup game.
Southampton were knocked out of the FA Cup this past weekend as despite putting up a good fight at St Mary’s and even going into half-time level, they ultimately fell to a 4-1 defeat, meaning that their only priority now is finishing the season strong in the Premier League as they sit in mid-table obscurity.
However, it was other priorities for another member of the Southampton side that has caused something of a stir for Crook.
It has since emerged after the game that Polish defender Bednarek requested to be taken out of the game so that he could focus on his country’s upcoming World Cup qualification campaign, with Saints boss Hasenhuttl stating “He is okay, he has a big game for Poland next week and it seemed to be that he isn’t 100% with his mind for us, I think. I didn’t want to take the risk that in some moments he didn’t want to take the last step to hurt himself in this game today.”
Speaking on the TalkSport Gameday podcast (11:43), Crook expressed his disbelief in the decision to leave the Pole out of the side and the reasoning behind it, saying that it doesn’t reflect well on the defender and that he also feels some anger with the manager for the way he handled the situation:
“I don’t understand even more the comments from Hasenhuttl after the game, basically suggesting that he got the idea from Jan Bednarek, that he wasn’t mentally prepared for this game because his focus was on Poland and their upcoming World Cup qualifier.
“If that’s true, I think that’s a really poor reflection on Jan Bednarek. This is not Shrewsbury away in the first round the League Cup, this is an FA Cup quarterfinal and a place at Wembley. I’m not sure how happy the player will be with his manager airing those views. But that doesn’t sit right at all with me.”
TIF Thoughts on Alex Crook’s comments about Ralph Hasenhuttl and Jan Bednarek at Southampton…
Did Bednarek do the right thing?
Yes
No
The decision is certainly an interesting one, especially when you consider that Bednarek has been one of the Saints’ best defenders this season, leading them in clearances per game and aerial duels won whilst also ranking second for interceptions and blocks whilst also ranking 4th for both passes per game and pass completion percentage (via WhoScored), so would have represented a decent chance for Southampton to get a result if he’d have played.
Whilst you can understand his reasoning behind wanting to be left out of the side with such an important game coming up for them, that game will be taking place a full nine days after their clash with Manchester City, so it wasn’t as if there was a quick turnaround between games that he needed to worry about.
So this does come across as a weird decision overall for the club to make, especially as the FA Cup was the only thing left for them to fight for this season, let’s just see if it ends up being beneficial to Bednarek whilst he’s on international duty, otherwise it would have been a totally futile exercise.
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