When you spend 16 years at a club, you see a lot of things. But, even club icon Matt Le Tissier didn’t suffer a 9-0 defeat during his time with Southampton. Despite topping the Premier League earlier on in the season, the south coast club are on a woeful run of form that seen them conceded a whopping 16 goals in the last five games.
Indeed, the Saints have been far from heavenly of late, losing their last five Premier League games on the spin as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men have tumbled into the bottom half of the table. To make matters even worse, they let nine of those 16 goals happen in one game at Manchester United last Tuesday and equalled the Premier League’s record defeat stat for the second time in just 15 months.
But, having previously lost 9-0 to Leicester in October 2019, Le Tissier is positive that Hasenhuttl and his team can draw on the experience of that trouncing to steady the ship once more. The subject came up straight away as hosts Paddy Power and Ruby Walsh welcomed Matt to our From The Horse’s Mouth podcast as our special guest.
“It’s a little bit bizarre,” Matt told the guys as he reflected on the result.
“It was very weird watching how that game unfolded the other night. But, before the game started, I poured myself a drink – which probably is the second one that I’ve had this year.
“My wife saw me, and she went, “ah, you’re having a drink”. I said, ‘I’m not particularly confident about tonight. I think I’m going to need this.’ After a minute and a half, I was just like ‘oh my god, this is going to be a longer night than even I imagined’. Sadly, I was right.
It was a very tough watch.
“Not quite as tough as actually being in the stadium for the other 9-0, which is where I was that evening. That was a difficult one to actually sit through while being in a director’s box at Southampton, because it meant I couldn’t leave early when I so badly wanted to.”
Despite the pair of punishing beatings, Le Tissier fancies German boss Hasenhuttl to turn things around for the Saints once more.
“After the Leicester game, I think Ralph had doubts about whether or not he should stay on as a manager at Southampton, but he was talked around. I think the board stood by him, and they were vindicated in that with what happened over the next 12 months.”
Just over a year later than that, we ended up top of the Premier League. Which was amazing really.
“It has happened again. The good thing about it – from a football perspective – is that quite a few of those players and the manager have been there and know that it’s not a terminal situation. They know that there is a way around it and that there’s a way to come back from it because they’ve done it once before.
“If it was to happen to any club, it was probably better that it happened to Southampton Football Club because they know that there is a way back from it.
“So, in a year and a half, I expect to be back at the top of the Premier League again!”
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