Read back what Manager Ralph Hasenhüttl had to say to the press ahead of our first Premier League fixture at St Mary’s of the 2020/21 season against Tottenham Hotspur.
On the start to the season:
“I can agree, it’s not the start we wanted to have. As usual you step out of a pre-season and you don’t know level you are. Definitely when you compare us to the end of last season we are not currently where we want to be. There are several reasons why this is, but we have to use the games we have to get back to our top level.
“We have to (score from midfield) because in the last two games we didn’t score a goal. This is not normal for us to be honest. We had massive chances but in the moment a few things are missing.
“I think this is the challenge at the moment, to come out of the break, from the pre-season, with a squad that isn’t 100% in shape. I think we know what we have to work on and we will push hard to get back to what we have done before and I think we can maybe do this and win against Tottenham.
“It’s not so easy when you lose the first game but we know the situation from last year. We want to be a team that no likes playing against but in the last two games we have been a team that wasn’t that nasty and aggressive like we should be. This is definitely an issue and we will work on this. We must change this as quickly as possible.”
On Danny Ings speculation
“I don’t know how often I sat here and spoke about Danny Ings and how important he is for our club. All I can say for these rumours is that there is zero percentage interest from Danny to go anywhere.
“He is 100% happy to be here and for us it is 100% not discussable that we lose one of the best strikers in Europe and any rumours about that are nonsense and it is the last time we speak about this.
“He’s the most important striker in our team, he’s one of our own if you want, and we know how much he likes being here. Danny loves to be here and play for us and the team loves to play with him.”
On Tottenham
“We don’t have to discuss about the individual quality that Tottenham has in its squad. We will never be competitive if we speak about players one to one. But that isn’t the goal we have, we have the goal of being the most committed team at the weekend.
“Both teams lost their first game of the season so you have both under a little bit of pressure to show up. I think we played against each other four times last season, two times at St Mary’s and two times away. So we know each other very well now I think.
“One of our ex-players is now playing there so we know each other well so it will be tactically interesting. But in the end there is always a chance to beat such a team when you have a good day.”
On Team News
“At the moment we have Reddy (Nathan Redmond) for the weekend from the game against Brentford with an ankle injury. It’s a ligament injury. He won't be available I don’t think for the weekend.
"Stewie (Stuart Armstrong) was the first time for him on the pitch today. If it’s enough for him to start at the weekend I don’t know, maybe he is part of the squad. We cannot say now.
“With (Mohammed) Salisu, he’s been here now since nearly the beginning of the season and we know he had some issues but I think he is coming closer to being an alternative and hopefully we see him very soon on the pitch.
On Transfers
“I don’t know how close, but we are still looking, the market is still open and we know we lost some players to other clubs so we have to do something and we will.
“I don’t want to discuss our whole transfer plan that we have, you can be reassured we know exactly where we have some problems."
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