Southampton CEO Martin Semmens was quizzed if the pressure is now on Ralph Hasenhuttl to perform this season given that he got what he wanted in the transfer window
Martin Semmens said: “Interesting question, yes, it is always on him.t from FA Cup run He would say that ultimately, everything sits with him. The responsibility from how we perform on match day is with him and he is the one in front of the media and standing there on the touchline taking responsibility. So whether we give him what he wants or whether we don’t, he still feels that pressure. We talk about strengthening with two players for every position, not because we are hungry to spend money or to have more players, but it is just the right way to run a professional team. I think we have that and we are already seeing the benefits of that. The real trigger for me was away at Newport County, when we were 7-0 up and you were still seeing players like Kyle Walker-Peters sprinting back after losing the ball in the 89th minute. Seeing that commitment is so important to what we are trying to do here and that comes from competition for places and knowing that if you are not up to your best, you are not going to play. I think the players have bought into that model, that it can’t just be ten or nine of us doing the job and one player scoring the goals, it has got to be all 26 of us. That responsibility is the key trigger and if Ralph gets that, he will always get results for us. He expects a lot from his players, he expects them to work hard and run and I think as everyone knows, he operates a system where eleven players have to function at the same time. If you keep taking quality players out of that who are injured and people coming in aren’t yet ready, or are too young, or haven’t spent enough time with the team, then the system breaks down and I think that’s what happened at the end of last year. I think we have fixed that problem and our way will always be to buy and develop talent, and we are certainly very happy with every player we have brought in. I’ve been here a while now and every weekend, whether it be fans or with family or staff, we go ‘oh, this is a big one.’ Every game is a big one in the Premier League and it is getting increasingly difficult. Even yesterday, with the Newcastle announcement, every team has huge finances and amazing, world-class players and facilities. So every game is incredibly difficult now, but yes, our season will not be defined by not beating Man City or Liverpool once, it will be defined by making sure we beat the teams around us in that group. So yes. I think the next five to eight games will be very pivotal to see where we end up halfway through.”
