Hasenhüttl happy but wants "next gear"

Saints followed up Tuesday’s 4-0 win at Cardiff with another comfortable victory, this time 3-1 over Swansea, with Nathan Tella, Nathan Redmond and Stuart Armstrong all on target inside the first 60 minutes.

Hasenhüttl then made a host of changes and felt the intensity drop slightly, citing room for improvement whilst recognising his team are in good physical shape with two weeks to go before the Premier League campaign kicks off at Everton.

“It was a good game, I think, and we scored three good goals,” he said. “It’s a pity that we conceded one. It was a mistake from Sali, but okay.

“We are in pre-season and I must say that we are physically in good condition. The last freshness was not there, but overall it was a good performance.

“We dropped the speed a little bit in the last 30 minutes. We had a few good chances, yes, but I hope that we can find the next gear and push them a little bit more.

“It was not enough for me, but after the week they’ve worked hard, and yesterday we didn’t really respect the game today because we still worked hard, so it’s okay.”

Much like at Cardiff, Saints’ sharpness in winning possession high up the pitch proved key to their success, with six different players finding the net across the two games.

“We know this is the biggest strength in our game, definitely,” he said of the pressing.

“This is always the best moment to score because when you win the ball they are a little bit disorganised and you have more space and you can hurt them more. This is what we did today.

“It’s always good when you have more players who can score goals, but this is what I have seen in the training sessions: that we have a little bit more flexibility.

“I don’t want to give them (Swansea) any chances, to be honest, when you play against a Championship team. We gave a few, and that’s something we have to talk about.”