RALPH Hasenhuttl said the international break would have come at a perfect time for Saints – if so many of their players were not heading away with their countries anyway.

The St Mary’s side are at the point of needing a rest again after back-to-back defeats in the Midlands, following a 1-0 loss at Aston Villa on Friday.

Due to the postponement of their home match versus Brentford, it meant Saints had not played in two weeks and will not play again this month – this time due to the international break.

And the club were celebrating the likes of Armel Bella-Kotchap earning a first senior Germany call-up, but it means the bulk of the group will not be together to work on performance.

“It would be good if everybody is here but it isn’t. We will have some players here, I think seven or eight, but still a few ones that started here today,” Hasenhuttl told the Daily Echo.

Of the outfield players, Hasenhuttl could still have Kyle Walker-Peters, Lyanco, Romain Perraud, Ibrahima Diallo, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Theo Walcott, Adam Armstrong and Joe Aribo.

“We have definitely time to analyse what happened in the last two away games because they are very similar. In the last time we had chances but at Villa it was a step back I must say,” the boss continued.

“We have to be very clear how want we play and what we want to do to be better.”

Saints will next play on Saturday, October 1 (3PM), when they welcome Everton to St Mary’s in their eighth Premier League clash of the campaign.

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