RALPH Hasenhuttl responded to questions on his future as Saints manager by saying: “The crowd was fantastic. We never had the feeling there was a bad atmosphere.”

The 55-year-old Austrian is under increasing pressure with Saints having won just two of their Premier League matches this campaign.

Sport Republic were in attendance as Saints went down 2-1 to Everton for a third successive defeat, despite Joe Aribo firing the home side ahead right after half-time.

Hasenhuttl was asked if he feels his job is under pressure and did not directly answer the question but, instead, praised St Mary’s for their support of the team.

“I feel that we have a team that is young. And I will say that the crowd was fantastic,” Hasenhuttl said.

“During the 90 minutes we were never having the feeling that there was a bad atmosphere or something like that. And this is what this team needs.

“They need time, they will be one time a very good team but as we said, we know about Premier League football and young and talented is nice to have but the rest is about learning and developing quick.”

Assessing the manner of defeat, Hasenhuttl added: “Their first goal, it was a moment of no concentration and not defending in the box.

“A free kick from the side but it’s long in the air so there’s definitely opportunities to defend this better. And then, as I said, the chance for the second goal, what we don't do and what they then take in a very clinical way.

“The positive thing for me was afterwards that we are never stopping, trying and creating chances. we had some other good ones - Duje’s (Caleta-Car) at the end.

“If you want to see the difference today this was maybe from the set-pieces. They scored the goal and we didn’t. Our chance was not smaller than theirs - this is what makes football brutal.”

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