BOSS Ralph Hasenhuttl was left to rue Saints not capitalising on a strong start at Arsenal, admitting: “The game was gone after the first two goals.” Saints had Arsenal pinned back during the early stages with both Nathan Tella and Adam Armstrong working goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. Asked if he found it hard to believe his side were 2-0 down after 28 minutes given the way the game had begun,
Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “Yeah. That changed the momentum from the game completely. It was also something you have to accept then, because we tried to calm the game down immediately. We were aggressive, had a few good moments in the beginning, but like always in such a moment, then the opponent makes a goal from their first chance, then that changes the momentum in the game. They get more self-confident, they know they haven’t played well when we have started well and then suddenly you are one or two up. Then it’s easy to play. It’s hard for us, mentally hard, and for them even easier. We tried after the half-time to come back in the game with one goal, but again we had good moments where we could score and then after the third goal, I think the game is gone. Then you could feel the quality they have when they are in the flow. We tried then to stop it with the change, a system change. It worked better in the end so that we didn’t concede a fourth goal. But overall you must say that the game was gone after the first two goals we conceded.”
Asked how frustrating it was not to score when on top,
Ralph Hasenhuttl added: “It is always frustrating when you know how good you can play and you do it and the output is nothing. This is always frustrating. Especially then when you concede the first goal, you think it is far away from being deserved. But this is football. This is always the quality. When they go one time in front of their goal, find the right moment and score immediately with their first touch. This is what we have to learn and what makes it different between the top teams and us.”
