Is Ralph Hassenhuttl in Trouble at Southampton?

After a relatively lacklustre season, Southampton sits 15th in the table with 40 points and two games to go. Exactly where they were 12 months ago.

Their remaining two games are against what looks to be an unstoppable Liverpool side who haven’t lost at Anfield in so long I don’t even have to look it up, and an out of sorts Leicester City side who have themselves witnessed a relatively poor campaign.

The Saints finished the 2020 season on 43 points, again in 15th place and with a minus 21 goal difference. fast forward 12 months and it is almost identical, they will almost certainly lose to Liverpool this weekend but there’s every chance of taking three points from Leicester.

Given the stats are so similar, have Southampton really improved since the Austrian took over?

Under Hassenhuttl, Southampton holds the record for the largest deficit in Premier League history, with not one, but two 9-0 defeats against Leicester City and Manchester United respectively, in back-to-back seasons.

One defeat of that calibre alone would be enough for most other managers to be shown the door, let alone twice, however, Hassenhuttl remains in charge at St Mary’s and given the lack of recruitment compared to the number of departures at Southampton, many fans will still have faith in the Austrian.

Southampton’s academy has become almost as famed for developing some of the world’s most talented players as it has for selling them on (especially to Liverpool). Like most managers since, the squad that Ralph adopted when he took over as head coach is far removed from what it is now.

Not because the squad has been shaped by Ralph but to cater for the mass exodus of players that Southampton sell on each window.

Following an abysmal performance and subsequent 3-0 defeat to Brentford last weekend, some fans turned on the Austrian, chanting “sacked in the morning” and “you don’t know what you’re doing” at Ralph on the side-line.

With some fans fed up with the lack of development their squad has seen over the last few seasons, May 22nd could be the last time we see the Austrian donning the St Mary’s side-line if the Saints board decide he has taken the team as far as he could.

In late January, Southampton were taken over by Dragan Solak for £100m. Solak is the third-richest man in Serbia and made his fortune by creating his nation’s first cable TV network in the early 2000s.

Solak has a net worth of $1.22bn, whereas Gao Jishheng was worth £2.3bn, but, the latter failed to see Southampton’s squad progress significantly enough to challenge in the European places.

Since Jisheng bought the majority of the South Coast club, they have seen the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Dusan Tadic, and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg all depart, whilst Danny Ings both joined the club from Liverpool and left to sign for Aston Villa without an adequate replacement.

Armando Broja has been a bright spark for the Saints, scoring six goals in 1,898 minutes of Premier League action whilst on loan from Chelsea. The Albania international could be the ideal type of signing for the Saints to make in the future, as he is likely to join for an astute fee with the potential to grow, like the acquisition of former Blues teammate Tino Livramento.