RALPH Hasenhuttl believes Danny Ings still “has a chance” of making England’s Euro 2020 squad, providing the striker can stay fit for the remainder of the season. Asked if he feels Ings will still make England’s squad for the Euros,
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “To be honest, you are right, there are so many good strikers around there for England. I don’t want to have the job to make the decision who I pick! Ingsy is definitely one of them and when he is fit and when he plays well and when he scores then he must be part of this. But he has to stay fit and go in the battle, and then he has a chance I think. This is always my job to bring the best out of every player, and if he has a Euros or not, I mean he’s part of this club, he has a contract with this club, so that contract means he has to do everything and just to help us, and I think this is the deal we made. I don’t care about being part of the Euros, this is something like a bonus for him. But the most important thing is that he helps us win games, that he helps us climbing the table and that he helps us maybe come into the cup final. This is the deal we have with him. And so long as he’s here, he tries to give his part to this deal and we give our part of the deal, that we offer him everything that is possible to make him better. This is how it should be with every player.”
Ings has endured a stop-start campaign this time around. Asked how much he felt Saints’ poor spells of form this season have been down to Ings not firing as regularly and consistently as last season,
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “This is not such a big secret that he is important for our game, definitely. He is even more important when he is fit and can run and do the job that he did in the last game. Then he has the quality to score, then he has the quality to prepare chances and I think this is what we missed, definitely. And it is also good that with Che (Adams) and with also Reddy (Nathan Redmond) now in better shape, we have something like a battle for the two positions in front.This is good because everybody knows that ‘when I don’t perform well, then maybe I lose my spot or my position in the first XI’. This is always the best way to push for better performances.”
