Hasenhüttl: A deserved victory
Ralph Hasenhüttl felt his Southampton team were excellent value for their 2-0 victory at Sheffield United, as they finally put a stop to their frustrating winless run.
Saints hadn't triumphed in nine Premier League matches heading into the trip to Bramall Lane, but they emphatically ended that streak as James Ward-Prowse's first-half penalty and Che Adams's wonder goal shortly after the break gave them a full complement of points and moved them ten points clear of the bottom three.
"It's very good, definitely," said Hasenhüttl. "After a long, long time without a win, the first win is always the most important one, and I think it was a deserved one today.
"We could have scored a little bit more, but I think the rest of the performance was ok.
"We were still not on the highest level, but it is important that you have the first win and the clean sheet after a long time and I think this helps you massively and then you can build up on this and this is good."
Hasenhüttl notably welcomed back Kyle Walker-Peters and Ibrahima Diallo from injury, and the Saints boss felt the return of both to the starting line-up gave the team a more balanced look, as he no longer needed to move some of his players out of position to cover for their absences.
"Not only the energy, but also the fact then we can play Jan Bednarek on his normal position, Stuie on his normal position, we don't have to move them around on the pitch, and I think this is a big difference," he said.
"Then the automatisms are coming back immediately and you can see then that we play a better ball."
