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Did you think Ralph Hasenhuttl would go away that easily?
Of course you didn’t. You know by now the innate, fervent characteristics of the man. Yes, he does have a history of departing managerial roles on his own accord, but never at a club that so profoundly tugged at the pivot of his emotions like Southampton.
The functional role of a fighter pilot is to train for and carry out missions to compliment and assist other sectors of the military. And indeed, just like a captain of the skies, Ralph Hasenhuttl carried out a mission of his own without getting out of his seat.
Thursday, 4:01pm. 42 hours after another 9-0. The second one he had presided over in the space of 466 days, both the greatest, most severe defeats in Southampton’s history. To put this utterly absurd paradoxical record into context, in the 133 years of English league football, a 9-0 defeat transpires an average of every 12 years.
But here we were. The first question arrived and Jan Bednarek was the first subject off the bat. The news had filtered through 20 minutes in advance that the Pole’s red card had been overturned.
You wouldn’t blame Hasenhuttl if he was to take one last parting shot at Mike Dean or the bombastic nature that’s come to be the VAR system. Surely it was only correct to take a final righteous swipe at the standard of officiating or present his case to the media that external factors were to blame for the 9-0?
But no. Through the power of one unrefined, yet flawless soliloquy, Hasenhuttl veered off course. In just one minute, the dark, bleak clouds that had been an omnipotent presence around the club were lifted. Light was beginning to pervade through.
“I don’t want to speak too much about decisions that have been taken in this game. I think we have seen a lot of discussions around this game, our last two games to be honest. I think it is enough now.
“What I want to say is that because of this result I conceded unbelievable messages from the fans,” the 53-year-old preluded with. “All round this club that definitely had a big impact in lifting me and the players. I want to say a big, big thank you. We didn’t deserve to get such a big lift because we didn’t do a good job at all. But the support I have seen today from the outside I must say I have never had so much in my managing career.
“Although it is a tough situation I know I am in the right club and thank you for all of this.”
An emotional, sincere man at the best of times, it was palpable even through the lens of a laptop screen, the pronounced, heartfelt effect the support had on him. He was said to be shown the messages in the wake of the heavy loss and was taken aback by the profuse deluge of positivity that was waiting for him.
“The only people that first support the manager are the family, the wife and the kids. The kids are far away, but today it’s possible with FaceTime, and the wife, she’s did everything she could yesterday to lift me. But, as I said, when you see the reaction of the fans in that moment, I think that gives me such a feeling of being such an absolutely committed club, and even though they’re not in the stadium at the moment, they have a massive role to play also now.
“I must say I was very proud of what I have read. I had never considered such a positive reaction after a game. The biggest win I had as a manager was not that emotional like this behaviour. It’s now on us to give them a lift with playing a better game at the weekend. All the ups and downs we went through over the last two years I’ve been here, I think it’s very emotional, and I can only guarantee it will stay like this.”
Despite English not being his first language, every word is always thoroughly constructed in his mind when giving a response to a question. They can be measured and meticulous, detailed and multi-faceted, all of which are indicative to his character. He often repeats a point twice, with two different descriptions and sentences, allowing the person he is speaking in front of to better understand the complexities of his answer.
He is enchanted with finding the devil in which the detail exists, refining and honing his holistic approach towards his football ideology. To him, football is not just a sport; it’s a game of the mind and life, led by an incessant drive to find those extra margins.
But what happens when those things, that are supposed to be so finely interconnected, become so badly undone as they did Tuesday?
Like William Shakespeare dipping his quill into the ink and embarking on the opening prologue of Othello, Hasenhuttl replied, in smooth philosophical manner:
“We will not win all the next games, we will sometimes have difficult times, but also wonderful times like we had in the past. This is what football and life is about, and this is why we enjoy doing this together, and being committed to this fantastic football club.”
It wasn’t all gushing and smooth sailing in the press conference. The tough questions remained steadfast but Hasenhuttl kept going. He wanted to take the narrative into his own hands, to show the anarchy that had been witnessed over the last two days wasn’t a fair reflection on the team. He wanted to make one thing clear; aside from the scoreline, this was no Leicester repeat.
“I think, and this is what I said to my players today, we now have a different team, different characters,” remarked the Saints boss. “We have learnt from the past but things and games like this can happen from time to time, especially when you get punished in the way we have been in the last game.
“But it is up to us to show what team we are and the good thing is that after every hit back you see a new hope and what I see today, are a few players coming back from injuries.”
Whether you agree with it or not, two 9-0 defeats will leave an indelible stain on Hasenhuttl’s managerial career. Other clubs will be wary and additionally circumspect before offering him their top spot. That asterisk around his name became bigger after Tuesday.
Instead of seeing both occasions as a chastening source of regret, Hasenhuttl appears wiser and more at peace with it all. Perhaps he’s learned to adopt the lessons he accrued from life into football for his own sake, as opposed to utilising the methods to fine-tune his team. Some things in life are easier to accept the second time round, like failing your driving test or being told you didn’t get the part in the school play.
Now, Hasenhuttl routinely gives a wry smile when the Leicester game is brought up. He knows a reference to a 9-0 defeat is coming and that it will only swell in the coming months and possibly years, so has grown to become comfortable with the line of questioning, as if that specific scoreline acts as some form of tragicomedy. On Thursday, he even made the unwittingly crude observation that there may be a 9-0 defeat coming every season.
Acceptance is often the hardest thing to come by; having it makes you increasingly impenetrable. The Southampton boss also had time to launch a cutting attack on social media platforms, insisting they need to do more to crack down on the implorable racial abuse Alex Jankewitz suffered in the aftermath of his early red card.
As of Thursday night, those offenders still have an active presence on social media. This cannot happen and Ralph Hasenhuttl only led from the front in reiterating the same message.
Hasenhuttl’s audience with the online media was supposed to be a staunch defence of his position at the football club. That’s what you would conceivably expect at any other side within the world’s most lucrative league. But as Southampton fans know, the events of Tuesday night come with a spate of mitigating factors.
There would be no broken man before our eyes, or a long suffering manager caving in. Each sentence carried a meaning, fraught with emotive language that rose through the very core. Infact, you could say the effervescent hurricane that is Hasenhuttl has reignited the old burning flame. But in truth, that flame never went away.
“I don’t see when we have all the players back that we cannot do it again and this must be the goal for the next 7, 8, 9, 10 games, no matter how many games are coming up. My team can do this. I’m still convinced. We have to show up.”
10 minutes before entering the virtual Zoom call, Hasenhuttl took a first look at the episode in Manchester. They were only replays, short and brief. He didn’t want to see anymore, nor did he feel he needed to. He knew what happened. He knew where the problems lay. More pertinently, he knew how to fix them.
The Austrian has hardened his resolve. A few hours later after arriving home to the south coast, he stopped thinking about the game. He’s not the type to sit and ponder. He prefers to get up and do.
But nevertheless for a man of action, on Thursday afternoon, Ralph Hasenhuttl infused a new energy into Southampton through the most convincing form of rhetoric.
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