Southampton: Hasenhuttl fumes at VAR decisions that have cost Saints

Southampton fell to a record-breaking sixth straight league loss on Sunday and had another controversial VAR call against them to blame.

An impressive first-half showing saw Saints go ahead after a brilliantly worked goal involving Stuart Armstrong and Danny Ings, but Wolves turned things around with Ruben Neves’ penalty and Pedro Neto’s fine solo strike.

Speaking post-match about the decision that gave Wolves their equaliser, Hasenhuttl said (via southamptonfc.com):

"“It’s hard to understand. We speak about rules – stick to the rules. I haven’t seen today that it is on both sides the same. Again, I don’t want to discuss too much about this. It’s hard to take, and let’s keep on going.“Everybody has seen it, I don’t have to speak about it. Everybody has seen the two situations.“We have no points, we have again lost the game, and again I don’t think we have deserved to lose, but that’s the way in the moment and we’ve got to keep on going. At the moment, we get punished for situations that are unbelievable for me.”"

VAR calls against Southampton tough to take

When you look back on the calls that have gone against Saints in the recent past, Saints have certainly been unlucky to say the least.

They were denied what looked to be a clear penalty in the home loss to Aston Villa and had a goal disallowed for an unclear offside – resulting in a 1-0 loss.

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They would have lost by a significant margin at Manchester United anyway but had another unclear offside call and a sending off/penalty against them. Jan Bednarek’s red card was rescinded despite Mike Dean actually making the decision using the pitchside monitor.

Now two calls versus Wolves – one a given penalty against and one penalty not given in Saints’ favour –  have added further to the exasperation for Hasenhuttl.

Despite everything that has gone against them, Saints also need to take some responsibility for recent results.

When opposing teams have got in their face recently and fought back against their pressing with a similar force, they have looked intimidated and this allowed Wolves to swing the momentum of Sunday’s game far too easy.

There is still a healthy gap of 14 points between them and the bottom three but things will have to turn around quickly if safety is to be confirmed to allow more focus on the FA Cup run.

Two games are upcoming against Chelsea and Leeds but the international break may well be what Saints need to regather their thoughts and recharge for strong push towards the end of the season.