Ralph Hasenhuttl has ‘lost the confidence of Southampton players’ as Charlie Austin advises ex-manager to be first Premier League boss sacked this season

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has reportedly lost his side’s support.

Hasenhuttl’s side started the new Premier League season in disastrous fashion with a 4-1 defeat at Tottenham on Saturday.

AFP

It follows another unconvincing campaign for the Saints – who finished 15th last season.

Now the Daily Mail are reporting that a number of Southampton players no longer trust the Austrian and some believe he should have been sacked in the summer.

Hasenhuttl has held the reins of St Mary’s since 2018 and is yet to guide the Saints into the first half of the Premier League.

The South Coast side often get off to a rocky start, sparking relegation fears, before finally pulling themselves together and surviving comfortably.

But Charlie Austin, who played under Hasenhuttl in his first season in charge, suggests this could be the season of his boyhood club’s downfall.

And Brisbane striker Roars expects Hasenhuttl to be the first Premier League manager to receive his marching orders this season.

“I’m going to get hammered for my opinion of the club!” he told talkSPORT.

“They’ve beaten the trap a number of times over the last four or five seasons, I just don’t know if that’s going to happen. [this time].

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the director [Hasenhuttl] is the first to go.