Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “THERE is nothing older than success from yesterday, so we have to do it again.”
Saints produced one of their performances of the season with one of only three away wins, when they came from behind to beat Antonio Conte’s Spurs 3-2 in February. The positive result came in a run of just one loss between Mid-December and the end of February, leaving Hasenhuttl targeting a first top-half finish of his tenure. The Austrian’s fourth Premier League season opener sees him and his charges revisit the capital to take on Conte’s Champions League qualifiers.
Ralph hasenhuttl said: “It was a great game, for sure, one of our best last season. But there’s nothing older than success from yesterday, so you have to do it again. So we have to show again we can compete, we will have to have a nearly perfect game to get something there. It was impressive that last season they managed to qualify for the Champions League. It looked for a long time like they wouldn’t manage it. But with an impressive run of wins they managed to come back, and to make this step even higher I think was our performance against them. They have been in good mode when they have played against us, so we showed we can be resilient and strong against them. But he (Conte) does a fantastic job there, and had also an interesting transfer window so far. He’s spent a lot of money on the players he wanted, and this is a team that with the squad is normally able to try for the highest trophies.”
Saints are looking to pull together a squad with six new additions to improve on consecutive 15th-place finishes in the last two Premier League campaigns. Although they registered just one win in five Premier League matches, the two St Mary’s games versus AS Monaco and Villarreal will have left plenty of encouragement.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “You can create spirit with a good atmosphere but also with good results. And this helps massively. None of us Premier League clubs know exactly where we are at the moment. The first games are coming up and then you have to show how good you are and how far you are in the development of your quality. And for quality you need a good game-plan. But, as you said, also spirit and readiness in the right moment and therefore we have to do everything. Over the last five weeks every club has been preparing for this first moment. And now we will see how far we are.”
