Reinhard

To be sarcastic - Danso still has to wait a few years until he is familiarised with the higher standard of the PL compared to the Bundesliga. Meanwhile he is the U21 Captain of Austria and will be in the national pool for the European Championship next year. To be serious - he sits on the bench more or less regularely and we know it can get pretty fast that he is needed and then he can show what he is capable of. Maybe RH finds one or the other is tired after two games in 4 days and we will see new personnel on the pitch next Saturday ...

We play good when we want to improve the result, i.e. want to make a goal. We play weaker when we want to hold a result.

I do not care so much who plays, besides not knowing the players for years like most of the other forum members here. i think the key issue will be how RH can implement his style into the heads and bodies of his players, taking into account the opponents expected style.

Yes, I see it a bit the same way.

When RH took over teams in Germay, he implemented his style. He did not need a new team for his system. He just took what he had and implemented or added the philosophy of pressing, running und fighting. Plus maybe some tactical patterns. Of course, the better the individual players, the better the squad. But I have no doubt that the quality of the squad is sufficient to stay up or even knock at the top 10.

Danso played in spring against top German teams with Augsburg. And he should be overwhelmed against Watford or Norwich ??

Yes!

Having read RHs statements during the week I am pretty optimistic. He assured no less that the he and the squad will again concentrate on what was lost in the last months - presssing, running etc., as we already saw against Arsenal. Therefore 3-0 or 4-1.

I am sorry for Armstrong, that was not a light injury, as I originally thought ..

I even re-watched the last 18 minutes of the regular time. We are both right. There were many good attacks which should have led to one or the other goal in these minutes. But, starting from the 2-1, EACH corner and freekick, each throw in and each shot from the goalkeeper was delayed, on the limit to a provocation. Not fair. Almost each touch from an opponent or even from the the ball was a "severe" injury, handled by paramedics etc. I think of Bednarek, Armstrong and JWP. And the yellow card for Bertrand. 50% of time or so was spent with breaks during these minutes. I do not believe in Bad Karma, but the goal we conceded at the end was a kind of punishmant for this unfair behaviour.

And I was afraid he gets another one immediately afterwards as he did not throw in again ...

And I was afraid he gets another one immediately afterwards as he did not throw in again ...

Ok. But yellow card for Bertrand for delaying in minute 81 !

Ok. But yellow card for Bertrand for delaying in minute 81 !

I hate this playing for time during the last 10 Minutes of a game of Southampton, in order to stabilize a positive result. It's the wrong action. They delay, delay and then the passes get slower, the attacks get slower, everybode is delaying .. till one gets the goal! It's the coach's task to wipe that out of his team. They should attack, run an fight till the 96th minute, keeping the ball in the opponent's half.

Let's just dream a bit. Let's dream that the team can repeat the performance against Arsenal. It's possible. Every player knows about the shame loosing that game, as well as the coach. Yes, they have to overcome some mental obstacles (only one point in home games, 0-9 at home, up and down and up and down, possibly being at the bottom of the table for the next week) but when running and pressing like mad they can disregard those mental obstacles. So give them again one chance.

Repeating the performance against Arsenal is one thing, handling the opponent's long passes another. Burnley did it well against us, correct reaction to our pressing, and made only long passes in order to avoid pressing situations. I hope RH has a solution to this. Then we will win.

I know this attitue since years - every time RHs team makes troubles to a top team (which happend quite often) some guys argue that the opponent simply had a bad day and everybody could have defeated the other team on that day etc. Not true. I will take some time until fans realize that it is the style of RH which makes the other team look bad. Takes time to realize it. I agree - the point will be whether the team can repeat the performance in home games.

I agree.

What makes/made me optimistic, is the following: 1. RH said before Arsenal, that the team after the two weeks break is now remembering a little more the virtues/basics they had earlier regarding pressing, aggressiveness and morale. These were friendly words for the public. i assume he had another statement to the team, like this: "Men, I want you to play my style. If anyone does not want to, he should tell me. if another bad performance happens, I will put some heads on a spike. If the defense plays rubbish I will replace the CBs during the game and send the replaced CBs straight to the training ground of the U23 till winter. Anybody playing horizontale for boring minutes like ball to CB-CB-keeper-LB-CB-CB-RB-keeper will be offered in winter transfer time to Tibetan or Indian clubs for the remainder of their career etc. etc." 2. The match against Arsenal showed in high degree what I expect from a squad coached by Hasenhüttl. Entertaining. Chances. Morale. Yes, mistakes too, but many positive actions were visible. I often critizised Bertrand but I think this was his best game since 12 months. The yellow card was overdue, i admit. The impulse to play forward was almost always present. 3. RH said after Arsenal that the team recognizes now that this was the style which can make trouble to any team of the PL. So I do hope they adhere to it each game, also next weekend. It is up to the coach to make this happen. Watford should be beaten, if not - game over.

We know it, does RH know it?

The 0-9 at home is history. Austrian soccerteam once lost 0-9 against Spain twenty years ago or so, the Austrians were coached by the great and adored Ernst Happel. He said, he takes the responsibility for it, and continued with his work till he died. No one cares about that desastrous result anymore. It's history. The great Juventus from Italy lost against a small Viennese team many years ago in an European competition 0-7. And? We can score in Leicester 3-0 in spring, against 11 men, and then it looks much better.

I am not an insider, don't know the relation between players and coach or between owner and coaching team. I see the results and the performance. I don't know much about former coaches either. I was a fan of RH up to the last games of Southhampton. Incredible one or the other of that games. So the conficence I had since December last year is gone. The pessimistic side can well be found in this forum, understandable. If RH has to go it would be a desaster for his career and I think he will do everything that this does not happen. He never was in such a situation as a coach. What he did wrong regarding positioning and being loyal too long to some of the players should get recognized by him. I do hope so. The optimistic side inside of me hopes that he will take new changes and new actions - just out of necessity. We all know teams which had an incredible good second half of a season, climbing high in the table after all, unexpectedly. This can happen too, with Southampton. For me it is first of all a matter of morale, and to uphold and strenghten morale in this situation, that is the job of the coach. if RH has this quality, we will see, beginning on Saturday.

No Joke - why not put Danso instead of JWP? Danso was an attacker originally, then a midfielder. Due to an abundace of young CBs in Austria he played as a midfielder against Hungary U21 on Tuesday, as a captain. Made the winning goal, was not without mistakes but was the Austrian key-player. Helped the defense and also attacked.

I see, thank you. No, I am not praising Bednarek; because of his last performances. Won't choose that abbreviation anymore :-)