Southampton: Hasenhuttl on Saints’ ‘brave, energetic’ showing vs Arsenal

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl chose to focus on the positive aspects of his side’s performance at Arsenal – despite his players conceding a deflating equaliser in the 96th minute.

The Austrian would have wanted a display with fight and passion after a previous run of just one point from 18 on offer that had seen Saints slip into the Premier League’s relegation zone.

This reaction – and indeed a very structured showing against a talented side – will have given some hope ahead of two vital upcoming home clashes with Watford and Norwich respectively.

Speaking to southamptonfc.com after the game, Hasenhuttl said:

"“In general I’m positive because we showed a different face today. It was brave, energetic and an unbelievably committed performance. We believed in what we can do and that we can win this game. Also, after the equaliser, I saw my team playing forward looking for the second goal and we had chances for four, five goals today and this was a completely different performance. Sure, the three points would be perfect, but we must look for the positive moments today and not be too disappointed about losing two points in the end.”"

The biggest disappointment from Saturday will be that Saints didn’t take advantage of the chances they had to secure the win they truly deserved.

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Moussa Djenepo twice had good opportunities to put the game to bed, whilst Cedric’s horribly overhit pass saw Michael Obafemi given no chance with an open goal at his mercy.

A mixture of time-wasting and two Saints players needing treatment on the field saw the fourth-official add seven minutes of stoppage-time on at the end of the match, and this gave Arsenal time to snatch an equaliser.

Alexandre Lacazette was left unmarked at the far post – just as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had been in the lead up to the hosts’ first goal – and duly poked home to rescue a point.

Clearly Hasenhuttl can’t legislate for poor marking and poor finishing though and he must be praised for getting a reaction from his players.

Using a 4-4-2 system that became more like a 4-2-2-2 in attack, he managed to get his forwards into positions where they could really worry the Gunners’ backline.

The high-pressing style also worked well and almost produced something on a number of occasions.

The real test of Saints will come in the next week though and they will have to work out ways to hurt both Watford and Norwich, who may come to St Mary’s and sit back instead of attack.