RALPH Hasenhuttl says it’s “always a risk” to change the team shape when leading a game, but insisted that he felt it worked well and added: “We had the bigger chances, we should normally win the game.”

Saints took the lead through a Fred own goal following Che Adams’ deflected strike whilst operating in Hasenhuttl’s standard 4-2-2-2 formation.

But the half time substitution of Jan Bednarek for Theo Walcott saw the shape shift to a new five-at-the-back – after a failure to change at Everton saw a second-half collapse.

However, Saints didn’t settle straight into the new formation and it took 10 to 15 minutes before they really got out of their own area and back on the front foot, before finishing the stronger of the two sides.

Speaking after the game, Hasenhuttl admitted: “It was an intense week to prepare for this game.

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“It’s good that in the end we take something for the work we have done for this game. It’s always a risk to change the shape after a good first half and surprise the opponents and be in the end more stable.

“After the first 10 minutes we were struggling to find this shape because it’s not about being passive or deeper, we should still be on the jump but in a different way – it works quite well.

“That moment we conceded a goal but in the end after 70 minutes we had the bigger chances, we should normally win the game, but in the end that is how it should be.”

The eventual success with the shape could spell a more positive future of holding out for results in games, rather than letting teams predict the style Saints will play – which has more often than any other team resulted in points dropped from winning positions.

Hasenhuttl wasn’t concerned that United were able to score before they settled in, admitting: “Like always, it’s not easy to immediately step in the right way.

“In the first ten minutes we didn’t do it very good. I was shouting to push because being five-at-the-back doesn’t mean you have to be passive.”