RALPH Hasenhuttl admitted Saints are missing a spark who can score from nothing like previously but insisted the real “problem” still remains the concession of goals. The Austrian was open about wanting another striker during the summer transfer window, with a reported deal for PSV’s Cody Gakpo falling through on deadline day. Saints made 10 additions in total but only Sekou Mara, Joe Aribo and Samuel Edozie really bolstered the attacking options – with Armando Broja returning to Chelsea. Meanwhile, Saints still look to truly replace Danny Ings – who departed in a £30million deal to Aston Villa last summer – with Adam Armstrong yet to get firing regularly.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “In the Premier League to score goals, it is not the easiest thing to do. And even if you create chances, like we have done in the past, there is still quality to defend in this area. And therefore you need exceptional moments and we couldn’t create this moment in our last games enough. That can help to turn games around completely. A guy upfront who scores a goal from nothing. This is what a lot of teams have. And in the end, we had this last season also, in our best moments we had players who scored goals from nothing. And the year before also. This season, we had not so many moments where we say okay, we scored too many goals. But even then, last week, we had scored the first goal and this must be sometimes enough to win a game. And the problem is that we are not able to have a clean sheet so far. This is also something what you need to see, we need to get the clean sheets also to argue about that. The way we defend after the first goal (versus Everton) was not Premier League.”
Their opponents on Saturday, managed by Pep Guardiola, have not left their supporters wanting for a magic moment or glut of goals at all this season. In three of the last four Premier League games, City have scored in the opening 15 minutes and gone on to net six, three and six goals respectively. They then did the same in the Champions League versus Copenhagen on Wednesday, Erling Haaland scoring in the seventh minute and the team winning 5-0. However, Hasenhuttl warned that even if you survive the opening quarter of an hour – you are not safe from Guardiola’s charges.
Ralph Hasenhuttl added: “Not enough for 15 minutes to be good. We have had this in the Etihad very often. You have to be as I said, very, very clear in what you have to expect there. You have to run unbelievably much. You have to fight unbelievably much. You have to play football unbelievably good. You have to be brave in some crazy moments. And in the end, you have to have massive luck. So all these points have to be there. And we have shown that we can do this and the reason why we go there. These are, for me, the most interesting games in a year. And you can feel the whole energy in the group. The whole week was fantastic because everybody is looking forward and everybody wants to play this game. This is what I want to see.”
