Ralph Hasenhuttl has credited Stuart Armstrong with bringing the speed and touches that Saints were missing to break down a “very good organized team”. Asked to assess the clash,
Ralph Hasenhuttl responded: “Wow, a very tough start I think against a very good organized team. Tried to control the game but we did not stress them enough, it is always super difficult to create chances against a 4-5-1. You have to play very quick and in the first-half we were missing the good touches to speed up the game in this situation or you never stress them. This is the reason I had to make changes at half-time and Stuey did this better, fantastic and also scored a beautiful goal. Then you have to drill them all with patience, the rhythm was coming and it was a little it lacking in the first-half after a long time off. We added new players on the pitch and in the end the more subs we played the better we did.”
