Ralph Hasenhuttl
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Ralph Hasenhuttl not surprised with Haaland success with “good player in good team” comment #SAINTSFC

October 7, 2022
RALPH Hasenhuttl insisted Saints must not reduce Manchester City to only Erling Haaland but claimed Pep Guardiola has shown “respect” to Saints through resting key players. Haaland took his season’s tally to 19 in just 12 appearances in all competitions with a double in City’s 5-0 midweek Champions League win against Copenhagen. Hasenhuttl’s side will attempt to stop the red-hot Norway striker on Saturday when they take on City at the Etihad Stadium. “It’s not that surprising that a good player coming into a good team can be a successful goal scorer,” Hasenhuttl said. “This is not that surprising for me. “He’s scored goals for every club he has played for so far and this is by far the best club he has played for, so there’s not one reason why he shouldn’t do it at this club also. “He’s an exceptional player and he’s playing in an exceptional team. It’s what everyone sees now and fantastic for the Premier League that players like him are coming to us.” Saints rose to the challenge in both league games against Pep Guardiola’s side last season, drawing 0-0 at the Etihad and 1-1 at St Mary’s. But Hasenhuttl’s side were eventually overrun in a hard-fought 4-1 home FA Cup quarter-final defeat by City in March. The Austrian, under some pressure after three straight league defeats and his side winless on the road since late August, warned City are by no means a one-man team. “They have more players who you have to concentrate on,” he added. “If you’re only looking at Erling Haaland you’re not going to win this game. “We have shown in the past against a strong side that we are competitive and this year they are even stronger and it’s a good challenge for us to show again if we are able to take something. “I think they had a good transfer market and definitely improved their offensive quality with an upgrade for Gabriel Jesus - who’s also not such a ‘bad player’- Erling Haaland, who’s doing it even better. “You’ve seen it also yesterday in a game (against Copenhagen in the Champions League) – it’s not easy to defend against them. We’ll find a way to do it. “I think they had very often situations when they dominated the league and scored goals. The fact is that they didn’t underestimate us, when you hear Pep talking after the game, then you know that he wants to come with the best possible squad against us. “It’s kind of respect to us - it doesn’t make it easier for us but okay, we are going and remembering that we had good games against them and finally we want to be a team that is showing their qualities.” A message from the Editor Thank you for reading this article - we appreciate your support in reading the Daily Echo. Subscribing to the Echo means you have unrestricted access to the latest news, features and Saints coverage - all with an advertising-light website. You will also have full access to Saintsplus, your new home for Southampton FC tactical analysis, features and much, much more. Don't just take my word for it - subscribe today. Follow the latest breaking news in the Southampton area by searching Southampton News - Breaking News and Incidents on Facebook Follow the latest court and crime news on our dedicated group by searching Hampshire
Erling Haaland
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Cherries Welsh Center Back Chris Mepham discusses battle with Man City superstar Erling Haaland #MCFC #AFCB

August 16, 2022
CHRIS Mepham felt Cherries kept superstar striker Erling Haaland "fairly quiet", but admitted Manchester City were "in cruise control" on Saturday. All eyes were on the Norwegian frontman, as he made his home debut for City, following his £51million switch from Borussia Dortmund. But he made just eight touches during the contest, before being substituted on 74 minutes as City eased to a 4-0 victory over Scott Parker's men, with Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden among the scorers. Of those eight touches, two were passes, one of which an assist for Gundogan's opener. No player has started a game for Man City under Pep Guardiola and completed fewer than two passes. Asked if keeping out the 22-year-old, who netted twice on the opening day against West Ham United, can be viewed as a minor victory for him as a centre-back, Mepham told the Daily Echo: "Yeah, I think so. "He’s kind of like an all-round striker. Very physical, quick, direct. "So he’s got a lot of attributes and I think ultimately we kind of kept him fairly quiet. "But, of course, you keep someone like him quiet and then you’ve got the likes of (Kevin) De Bruyne, (Phil) Foden, (Bernardo) Silva coming on, (Jack) Grealish, that can create those moments of quality and you saw that with De Bruyne (on Saturday). "He’s got real quality in those sort of areas and he can hurt you. We would’ve liked to keep most of their players quiet, but it’s obviously a big ask." Reflecting on the game as a whole, which saw Cherries fall behind on 17 minutes, before going 3-0 down by half-time, Mepham added: "I think in an ideal world, you’d hold on to a draw for a bit longer. The longer it stays 0-0, I feel like they need to come out. "But as soon as they got the first goal, I think they were pretty much in cruise control. They scored a couple of goals after that, which is obviously very disappointing. "You know going into the game they’ve got players of huge quality, all throughout their team. "So you know they’re going to create chances. Unfortunately a few of those chances turned into goals. "I think they showed their quality and then obviously 3-0 down at half-time, it’s obviously a big ask to get anything from the game." Discussing the side's performance in the second half, keeping the game competitive with goalkeeper Mark Travers only beaten again by a late Jefferson Lerma own goal, Mepham said: "At half-time 3-0 down, you can either crumble and go into your shell, or you can embrace it and try to enjoy the challenge of playing against these world-class players. "I think in the second half we very much did that. We tried to limit them to few chances and I thought we dug in deep. "It’s not an easy one, but I thought we gave a good account of ourselves." Cherries will look to get back on track when they welcome Arsenal to Vitality Stadium on Saturday (5.30pm).
Pep Guardiola
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Pep Guardiola compares AFC Bournemouth to Tottenham and confident that Haaland striker problem can be solved #MCFC

August 15, 2022
PEP Guardiola compared Cherries' offensive tactics as "similar" to Champions League side Tottenham Hotspur, after dispatching of Scott Parker's men 4-0 at Etihad Stadium. Jefferson Lerma's own goal rounded off a comfortable afternoon for the Premier League champions, who led 3-0 at half-time courtesy of strikes from Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden. Cherries were on the back foot for the majority of the contest, with goalkeeper Ederson worked only once, saving Ben Pearson's 20-yard effort. Discussing his side's victory, City boss Guardiola said: "The team did a really good performance against a team that is incredibly well structured defensively. "But just not defensively, offensively as well, because they have good patterns for the build-up, to attract you, to drag you in the short passes, and afterwards they link perfectly with their strikers mainly, but sometimes with the wingers and after they keep the ball, make a switch of play. "Quite similar movements like Tottenham try to do. And defensively they defend so, so deep and so narrow, you have to go outside." He added: "Then in the second half when they don't want to attack, they don't want to press, it's more just being patient." Cherries boss Scott Parker spent two years as a player at Spurs, before returning for a spell coaching their under-18s, before moving to Fulham in 2018.