Hasenhüttl: We had no luck
Following Southampton’s final day defeat at Leicester, manager Ralph Hasenhüttl was left bemused by events that ultimately led to his side’s downfall at King Power Stadium.
After a goalless first-half, Saints fell behind to a James Maddison goal shrouded in controversy, as following a stoppage in play, referee John Moss gave the ball to the hosts when the visitors had previously been in possession, resulting in the opener moments later.
Commenting at full-time, Hasenhüttl felt the decision changed the dynamic of the meeting.
“I don’t have an explanation because the rule is when you have the ball and the referee stops the game, you should normally get the ball back, but today it was different.
“Everybody can explain [to] me what happens at that moment why they are immediately pressing us and it’s a very, very unfair situation I must say.
“With the ball we showed some good patterns and never stopped playing. The pressing was working and we were much more active at 50% possession today.
“But in the end, not really a lot of luck, or whatever, what happens in the moment to us.”
A brace from Ayoze Pérez and strike from Jamie Vardy made James Ward-Prowse’s penalty little more than a consolation, leaving the Saints boss to set clear areas of improvement to target this summer.
“We stayed in the league, that’s the positive thing,” he said. “We had never something to do with the relegation battle, this was this season the most important one.
“Before the season, a lot of people had us on the list for being a relegated team, but if you want to make the next step you have to change a lot of things next summer and that is what we will do.
“We must come to the point that we concede less goals, definitely. We will have some new players in the defence what we are looking at and then we will hopefully be more compact next season.”
