Ralph Hasenhuttl revealed that Southampton targeted Manchester United’s weakness in defensive transitions in their 1-1 draw at Old Trafford, telling his players that their opponents do not have a reverse gear.
Che Adams’ second-half equaliser cancelled out an opening goal by Jadon Sancho as United dropped more points in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Ralf Rangnick’s side started brightly once again before conceding and struggling to find a winning goal, like in the disappointing draw away to Burnley in midweek and the FA Cup fourth round exit to Middlesbrough.
“It is not a big secret that when they lose the ball that the reverse gears are not the best from everybody,” Hasenhuttl said. “Then you have the chance to create something and we did.”
“The pressing for them was good in the beginning but they aren’t used to doing it for more than 30 or 40 minutes, we came into the game after that," the Southampton manager added.
Rangnick - who worked with Hasenhuttl during his time as sporting director with the Red Bull football project - called on his United players to be “nasty” in order to break their habit of giving away leads.
“I don’t think anyone should believe the players don’t care,” he said. “The question is how can we get more compact and aggressive and nasty when it is about defending a lead. It is the major issue but not about the players not wanting to do that.
“They can be tough but the question is for what period of time and for which moments and if I see the goal we conceded, like the goal at Burnley, it is too easy, it is not even difficult for Burnley and Southampton to score these goals. Against Middlesbrough it was similar.
“We are conceding fewer goals than before, on average less than one, but it doesn’t help if you don’t score more than one. In the first half hour we should have been two or three up.
“I don’t think it is a question of habit, but of what kind of players we have and how they want to play.
“Our team compared to the Southampton team has never been a pressing team and to change those habits in a couple of weeks without a pre-season it doesn’t happen like that.”
