SAINTS manager Ralph Hasenhuttl blamed costly individual “mistakes” for his side’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City in Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “It was more the fact that we made mistakes like Sali’s penalty where he’s running out of the box. There is no need to make this (tackle) and it’s a clear penalty for me. And if you give them such a chance, you can’t be surprised. Against such a team it’s not possible to give them chances like that.”
Hasenhuttl and his team claimed a pair of draws against Manchester City in the league this season but the manager explained that Southampton needed a “perfect” performance to get those results – something he felt they didn’t quite match on Sunday.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “The goal with such a game is to make it as difficult as possible. To make the top teams struggle a little bit. If you are perfect, you have a chance against them. In the other two games this season against them we managed to take a point. Today we didn’t have a perfect game. I must say that we have played much better against them. We had multiple periods where they were really on the back foot today. You don’t see Man City very often kicking balls long from the goalkeeper because they don’t want to play out anymore. So that shows you how good we have been today. But you must take the chances you have without giving them easy moments to score. And twice we gave them the chance to score easy and this is not possible against this team. And this is where we lost today. Until 75 minutes when the third goal happens, it was a very equal game I think, this is what we wanted to show. Until then I think it was one of our best games against them.”
Southampton are next in action following the international break when they face Leeds United at Elland Road on April 2nd.
