MX23RW : Friday, May 10 07:17:31| >> :600:491184:491184:

Ralph Hasenhuttl backs Southampton to pick up where they left off

Ralph Hasenhuttl backs Southampton to pick up where they left off
© Reuters
Saints went in to the break in great form.

Ralph Hasenhuttl is hopeful Southampton will benefit from waiting until Monday to face Wolves.

The Saints' clash at Molineux is the final Premier League game of match day nine and the Austrian feels it should give them enough time to prevent a repeat of their last display after the October international break.

Southampton were slow out of the blocks at Stamford Bridge and were two down before they staged a second-half fight back to draw 3-3 with Chelsea – the only time they have failed to take maximum points from their last six matches.

Ahead of the clash with Wolves, Hasenhuttl said: "When lads are going to these internationals games, they play a different style of football and sometimes it takes a little bit until they get back in what we are doing here.

"Hopefully we can use the next two or three days to get in a good shape and be prepared for a tough game and to have a better start than after the last international break where the first 45 minutes were not a good one."

James Ward-Prowse will be fit to captain the team after he returned to training following a hamstring injury, while full-back Ryan Bertrand is available after a thigh issue.

Top goalscorer Danny Ings remains out though with a knee injury, but is expected to be back in contention next month.

It was Ings who scored at Wolves last season to grab a point after a 1-1 draw, but Nuno Espirito Santo's side clinched an impressive 3-2 success at St Mary's in January.

Hasenhuttl added: "We had some good one or two halves against them where we really showed what we could do against them.

"They have good game management all the time so we need to be very disciplined with the ball and against the ball, especially have good counter-pressing.

"In modern football if you don't perform in any part of your game, it is always difficult to win and especially for us."

Meanwhile, the ex-Austria international expressed his support for academy players not being exposed to heading too early following renewed calls for more investigation into the link between football and dementia.

1966 World Cup winner Nobby Stiles died at the age of 78 last month having been diagnosed with dementia and prostate cancer while Sir Bobby Charlton has recently been diagnosed with dementia.

"I can only speak for my experience and I definitely took a lot of headers in my playing career," Hasenhuttl explained.

"I was a centre forward and my biggest strength was to header and I know there are some brain cells dying from headers, definitely everybody knows this.

"I think to avoid dementia, I try always to work on my brain and build new brain cells if you want and new connections and this is always possible until you stay alive so you should work on this.

"For sure especially for young kids, we must pay attention and not do too much on this part.

"Even now you can see the ones that come out of the academy have a lack of quality with heading because they don't do it so we must find a solution, maybe with different balls that are not so hard.

"Maybe this is easier to build the technique and not use it all the time in the sessions with the most powerful shots on the head or whatever. There are some solutions and in the end it is about protecting them."

ID:423035: cacheID:423035:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:5208:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Adnan Januzaj pictured on March 4, 2020
Read Next:
Brighton, Southampton 'eyeing Adnan Januzaj'
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
CLeicester CityLeicester463141189414897
3Leeds UnitedLeeds462791081433890
4Southampton462691187632487
5West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom4621121370472375
6Norwich CityNorwich4621101579641573
7Hull City461913146860870
8Middlesbrough46209177162969
9Coventry CityCoventry4617131670591164
10Preston North EndPreston46189195667-1163
11Bristol City461711185351262
12Cardiff CityCardiff46195225370-1762
13Millwall461611194555-1059
14Swansea CitySwansea461512195965-657
15Watford461317166161056
16Sunderland46168225254-256
17Stoke CityStoke461511204960-1156
18Queens Park RangersQPR461511204758-1156
19Blackburn RoversBlackburn461411216074-1453
20Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds46158234468-2453
21Plymouth ArgylePlymouth461312215970-1151
RBirmingham CityBirmingham461311225065-1550
RHuddersfield TownHuddersfield46918194877-2945
RRotherham UnitedRotherham46512293789-5227


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!