RALPH Hasenhuttl has explained he did not head straight down the tunnel at full-time after the 3-0 defeat to Brentford out of frustration, but “to find the right words to speak to my players”.

The Austrian boss did not join his team to applaud the impressive travelling Saints support in London, while his coaches watched on from the technical area.

Asked by the Daily Echo why he went straight down the tunnel at the conclusion of the Premier League contest, he responded: “I was going inside and trying to find the analysis and the right words to speak to my players.

“This game is lost, it doesn’t help when I get emotional or whatever. My job is to build them up and to make them better and hopefully I find the right words.”

The result means Saints have won just one in 10 league matches as the season approaches its end, that run starting with a 4-0 hammering at Aston Villa in March.

Asked by the Daily Echo if his messages are getting through to the squad, he replied: “I don’t know.

“Against some teams we had shown good football I think, if you want to paint everything black now, do it. It is a good moment to do it.

“We have 40 points, if you want to say we are not safe then do it, you are absolutely right. You can also say we are a top 10 team, because we have fantastic quality in our team – do it, it’s okay.

“You can write whatever you want, it is not interesting to me because I try to work on the things that I need to do. When I set tomorrow up I will start doing that, because this is what I need to.”

The Austrian also said: “It shows in some moments that we are not comfortable in the moment, not what we have shown in some parts of the season and this is what we have to find back.

“It’s easier with some positive results, we will try to build this up and get some positive results.”

Daily Echo:

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