Press conference round-up: Man City vs Saints

On whether Leicester was the most challenging result of his career...

"It never happened that I lost a game like this and it has been very challenging, but this is what we are here for.

"It’s not an easy job and never is and in such moments, but it’s important you are a strong manager and look for the right decisions. This is new for me but I am now a better manager than before and this is the good thing, and if the players see the same then they know they are better players in the future."

we showed a reaction in working for the team, running and fighting.

ralph hasenhüttl
on the response at man city on tuesday

On the team's confidence...

"This week in training there was not so much time to build up something, because we could not train that much.

"On Tuesday we covered 190km – the most this season – and this was the reaction I wanted to see, to invest a lot, and against such a team you need to cover a lot of distance. This was positive and the discipline was ok, but even then you see you cannot give them a chance.

"It was important for us after the Friday game to come back to sterilising, to work together and make it difficult for them to come into our box.

"The first two goals were typical of Man City and the first was offside form what I have seen. We had no VAR in that moment, and I think we should think about this change for the future. It is not easy to have VAR in one game, and then no VAR in another, and there should be one line. It’s not always easy, because when you play a smaller team they don’t have the option, but it’s something we have to think about in the future.

"The second goal we were six against two and Agüero was free and it’s not possible to do this. We didn’t give too much away and finally the result was 3-1 and we showed a reaction in working for the team, running and fighting."

On whether there were meetings about the Leicester game...

"As I always say, the players are there to play football and not to discuss, and this is what they have to do. It’s important for them to find together and if you lose 4-0 it’s not so good, but after 9-0 there is no more discussion necessary and everybody knows in that way we cannot continue. But you could see on Tuesday it was a much better performance.

On the positivity shown by the fans...

"This is why we try to show from our side that we take 100 per cent responsibility for what happened in the last games. That's what they expect from us. They know us and know we are self-critical, and we try to find our mistakes and make them proud again. We try to do this in the future.

"They don’t have to accept the bad performance, but they can understand we are in a difficult situation and this is what fans should feel and support us as much as possible, and in that way we have fantastic fans."

On the team's strong away form in the Premier League...

"It is another game against a not-so-bad opponent, but, as always, you have a chance to get something. Both teams will take from Tuesday's game the good and the bad things and try to change a few things. They will do it and we will do it.

"Finally, I think that when we invest the same like we invested on Tuesday and keep it a little bit longer, and open the game, knowing that they are coming with fresh players and not worse ones but really good ones, still also we will make a few changes to the squad and a few fresh guys because we invested a lot on Tuesday.

"It’s another game of being as nasty as possible and giving them not so many chances and be a little more self-confident.

"It was normal in the beginning of the last game we avoid to make mistakes but now in the second half we showed we can play much better than the first half and had a little bit more possession, made better moves and scored a goal. This is something we can build on."

On being more physical with City...

"I think we were physical and tried to win the duels in the zones we could win it. It's seldom possible to press them high and this is why we immediately dropped and came back in shape after losing the ball.

"This is not our normal style. Normally we want to stay in and keep them under pressure, but they are so calm on the ball and have so much quality, it's not so easy to press them high, as they don’t really get upset about getting pressure.

"It’s a new goalkeeper and another weapon with a quick ball in behind the line and this is different to Bravo, and in the end it’s about when we win the ball and what we do with these moments. We know they don’t need a lot of space and time to score, so don’t give them any."

On how the next week could affect the bigger picture...

"You must take every chance to take points with both hands. You must work for this chance, and the Tuesday game showed us that we played against a good squad, but even then you have chances to get something.

"Although it's difficult and although they have a fantastic squad, we believe in ourselves and believe in ourselves to go there and compete as good as possible. This is what we have to do and show our fans that when they are following us that they must see us fighting for everything there, so this is what we will do."