RALPH Hasenhuttl has confirmed he’s happy that defender Kyle Walker-Peters is “absolutely okay”, after the enigma was only introduced as a substitute in the Aston Villa defeat. The 24-year-old had picked up a minor hamstring injury during the FA Cup fifth round victory over West Ham last week.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “Yes, he’s okay. The good thing is that we have a few alternatives in this position and we don’t need to risk anything. This is the reason why I left him out at first (against Villa), but he is a fantastic player and we want him to be on the pitch, normally. Especially because he can play different positions and I am happy that he is absolutely ok.”
Walker-Peters has operated in both right-back and left-back regularly this season, as well as deputising in wing-back and even right-midfield as Hasenhuttl has required. With Tino Livramento on the right of defence and Romain Perraud as the left-sided option, Hasenhuttl is not short of quality full-backs. Saints do not have much recovery time before their next match, when Watford also visit St Mary’s on Sunday. However, the boss revealed his focus is not yet on the potential XI he might field in that.
Ralph Hassenhuttl added: “I don’t have in my mind the Watford game at the moment, to be honest. Yes, I know it is only two days later, but the focus is on the reaction we want to show now on Thursday against a good opponent and we want to have an answer for some of the things that happened last weekend, and I am sure we will give this answer. I don’t want to tell you what was said, it stays in the dressing room. I also wouldn’t want them to tell what I told them, so leave it with us. It is not always necessary to speak after the game, it is much more important what follows as a reaction on the pitch. This is what I like much more. You hear about the discussions in the dressing room, but to be honest, the truth is on the pitch and when you show on the pitch the qualities that you have that helps you, definitely, much more. Our job is to set them up to know exactly what they have to do on the pitch and there is no more discussion needed, this is my job that I have to do. If I don’t do this perfectly, then they are lost, and maybe also I didn’t help them massively in this Villa game. But I think if we fail at all, we always fail everybody, or nobody. And the goal (against Newcastle) is to show a better performance, all of us.”
