Ralph Hasenhuttl emerged from the tunnel before kick-off and looked ready for business: pundit trainers, cropped trousers, white shirt, waistcoat and a tartan tie with his top button done up.
Before the game against Manchester City started, you would have been forgiven for thinking the Austrian’s outfit was going to be as good as it got. Yet, the Southampton players matched their manager’s touchline confidence with their most impressive result since beating Liverpool at the start of the year.
While it may have ended goalless at the Etihad Stadium, the visitors will feel as though the game was there to win. Sides often come to the home of the Premier League champions and feel disappointed, normally because they have conceded a barrel of goals and were humiliated.
Not on this occasion. From the first minute until the final whistle, Hasenhuttl’s side were superb.
There was controversy along the way — more on that later — but they stuck to the task at hand, which was stopping City at source. The club’s manager watched his former side, RB Leipzig, lose heavily to City in midweek and started adjusting his plans accordingly. Messages were exchanged with figures he knows inside his old club.
Hasenhuttl described it as a “perfect week”, and it is hard to argue. As he added, though, the only thing lacking against West Ham United and City was the “final punch”.
