"When you see life after a 9-0 defeat, then you lose any fear you may have as a manager"
Monday 30 December 2019 12:14, UK
Ralph Hasenhuttl believes Southampton's 9-0 home thrashing by Leicester earlier in the season has become the catalyst for the Saints' recent upturn in form.
That late October defeat heaped pressure on the Austrian, extending Southampton's winless run at St Mary's to eight games dating back to April and dropping them into the bottom three.
However, the Saints are now unbeaten in their last three, winning four of their last seven Premier League games and currently sit four points above third-bottom Aston Villa ahead of their New Year's Day clash at home to Tottenham.
It is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes, with Hasenhuttl in no doubt the heavy Foxes defeat was central to their revival, as well as inadvertently giving him renewed confidence in his own abilities.
"When you see life after a 9-0 defeat, then you lose any fear you may have as a manager because you get a signal from the club they believe in what you are doing," Hasenhuttl said.
"I never really thought about the pressure on me, but what I could do was to try to take it off the team.
"And the way we developed our game after that experience and where we are in the table now is the best response we could have given."
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