Ralph Hasenhuttl said it was “important” for Che Adams to get off the mark for the campaign and extremely hardworking.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said “Hardworking, the assist was good and the goal was important for him. He is always extremely hardworking for the squad and, with Ingsy together they get more and more automatism in how they want to play. It was much better in the second half than the first half. I am happy for him, happy for the team and he helped us massively. For every player, especially for a striker, it’s quite helpful if you score – and for the team it’s helpful if you take a point at Chelsea against a very strong side. You see the quality they have on the pitch. It’s definitely not normal that we come back two times in a game and take something. We were believing until the end in what we were doing and it was good.”
The Saints frontman opened his account for the Premier League season at the fifth time of asking, finding the net in Saturday’s pulsating 3-3 draw with Chelsea. Adams pounced on a mistake from Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga at Stamford Bridge – keeping his cool to smash in with his left foot during the second half in the capital. That came after the former Birmingham man had played a perfect through ball for Danny Ings to round the goalkeeper and find the net during the opening period.
Ralph Hasenhuttl was also happy to give a first taste of Premier League action to new recruit Ibrahima Diallo, following the Frenchman’s £12million switch from Ligue 1 outfit Brest.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said “For Ibra it was five minutes but he was here for the first time on Friday. We couldn’t work with him the whole week. It takes time but he is good guy and I am very happy for him.”
The 21-year-old only linked up with Saints late last week, after his return from international duty with France’s under-21 squad. He replaced Oriol Romeu in midfield late on.
