BOSS Ralph Hasenhuttl described Wednesday night’s victory over Levante as a “good test” after his side triumphed 1-0 at St Mary’s. Kyle Walker-Peters scored a brilliant winner, drilling a shot across into the bottom corner for his first goal in Saints colours. It maintained Saints’ unbeaten run of results in pre-season, after a behind-closed-doors draw against Fulham and comfortable victories over both Cardiff and Swansea last week. And while the main talking point of the evening was Danny Ings’s £30million departure to join Aston Villa, Hasenhuttl was pleased with what he saw on the pitch against the Spanish opposition.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “I must say it was a good test against a side that forces a little bit more than the other two (Cardiff and Swansea) we’ve had so far. What I wanted to see was that we are still fighting for having the clean sheet. I think our transition game was not that clinical like in the last games where we scored a little bit more often, because it was sometimes not quick. It was a little bit too sloppy sometimes, the passes in the final third. But overall it was a good test for us. We tried to give the players 90 minutes and on Saturday (against Athletic Bilbao) the second group comes with the 90-minute chance to show up, so that everybody has the chance to play 90 minutes in the pre-season and they should know how it feels. For this I think it was a very good evening. We scored one goal, could score a little bit more often I think, but in the end a good test.”
Asked if he feels this win will help breed confidence ahead of the Premier League opener against Everton on August 14,
Ralph Hasenhuttl added: “The Premier League is always something different. You never know how good you are or how far you are. But we are really working hard to get better. But I think getting more clean sheets is the key of getting better in the league table. I think this is what we need to do.”
