Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has revealed that his side exploited Tottenham’s tendency to sit back once they are in the lead after claiming a 3-2 victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Looking like Spurs were going to secure all three points with Son Heung-min netting 20 minutes from time, Saints delivered a sucker punch to Antonio Conte’s men with two late goals.
Levelling things up through Mohamed Elyounoussi as he ghosted into the area to head home, Che Adams then wrapped up a thoroughly deserved victory two minutes later when he connected with James Ward-Prowse’s cross.
Having failed to beat Southampton at St Mary’s in the last meeting between the sides in December, Spurs once again couldn’t get the better of their opponents.
Hasenhuttl, who cut an animated figure on the touchline over the course of the 90 minutes, opened up on his gameplan following their victory and revealed that they did look to capitalise on Tottenham’s tactic once they were in the lead.
“Spurs sat back, like they always do when they are in the lead. The good thing was, we had a solution for this and the tools to score, even against a team organised well and sitting deep,” explained the Austrian, as reported by Hampshire Live.
“We found a very good game plan today. Congratulations to my analysts and Richard [Kitzbichler] (his assistant boss).
“With the back-five we played against Spurs last time, we were struggling to create chances. Today, in a 4-2-2-2, it worked perfectly.
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“We had some big discussions in the week and you can see that what we settled on worked perfectly.
“The first half was fantastic. We had the right players in the right positions and we could then play it around and wait for our chance
“The key to the win was that we kept on playing that way after they scored. This is a big step forward for our side and it was fantastic to watch.”