Hasenhüttl: They wanted it more
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl conceded Aston Villa ‘wanted it more’ after his side suffered a first Premier League defeat in six matches.
First half goals from Ollie Watkins and Douglas Luiz put the hosts in the driving seat before Philippe Coutinho and Danny Ings, facing his former club for the first time, rounded off the scoring.
Reflecting on a difficult afternoon in the Midlands, Hasenhüttl delivered an honest assessment of both himself and the team’s performance.
“It was absolutely not enough what we showed today,” he said. “It was from the first moment not our best game. I think we had problems in the duel and in the last line we had some issues with their three offensive players.
“We tried to stay with the shape until the end of the first half but I think maybe I should’ve changed it earlier, but we had also some good moments in the first half so I thought ‘maybe we can handle it now’, but it wasn’t the case.
“Then in the end, after the second goal before half-time you need a good start to the second half, we changed the shape but conceded the next two goals and from this moment on the game was gone.
“You could feel they wanted it more, they have been very sharp and we had a lack of intensity in our game today and we are not this team that can only play football, we have to first fight to come into the game.”
