RALPH Hasenhuttl insisted the crowd’s reaction to defeat last weekend was normal and said “you don’t need to have boos to know you are disappointed”.

Some sections of the St Mary’s support let their frustrations be known at full-time of the 2-1 loss to Everton – a third successive Premier League defeat.

After Joe Aribo had taken the lead early in the second-half, the Toffees extended their unbeaten run in the league to six through goals from Conor Coady and Dwight McNeil.

Hasenhuttl first faced real public animosity after the 3-0 hammering at Brentford last April, when his travelling supporters began chanting ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’.

The Austrian had been largely supported up to that point despite almost four years in the job but the relationship feels it has scarcely recovered since then, bar some positive results.

“I think this is normal - you don’t need to have boos at the end of the game to know that you are disappointed with the result, this is no question,” Hasenhuttl said, asked about the reception received.

“Finally we have a whole week to prepare for a fantastic game. When you watch them and when you see what you are facing now, this is exciting for us.

“We are going there not to look at how good they are. We want to show how good we are and for young players, don’t underestimate them,” he insisted.

“They’re not scared, they’re most of the time super motivated to show how good they are.”

Hasenhuttl had heeded many supporters calls for changes last time out when he made six alterations to his starting lineup to facilitate a return to the 4-2-2-2.

"I think after the (Aston) Villa game, it was important to make a few changes and give others the chance to play,” he explained.

“Some that came in could have done more and we expect a bit more, but we have 21 players and every player has shown this week that they want to play against Manchester City and now it’s up to me to find the right mixture.”

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