Mark Hughes’ experience will be enough to save Southampton from relegation according to Ryan Bertrand
Hughes saw his new club into the FA Cup semi-finals with victory on Sunday
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Ryan Bertrand sees Mark Hughes’ Premier League experience as just what Southampton need to avoid relegation to the Championship.
Hughes arrived as manager last Wednesday, on a contract until the end of the season, to replace the sacked Mauricio Pellegrino, with the club in the relegation zone.
The new manager began with a 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final victory at Wigan on Sunday, and gave an indication that he may be willing to try a more attacking approach to keep Southampton up.
He abandoned the 4-2-3-1 set-up preferred by Pellegrino, instead fielding two strikers in Manolo Gabbiadini and Guido Carrillo, while giving the midfielders and full-backs additional licence to go forward.
Hughes is fully aware that he needs to add attacking threat to a Southampton side who have struggled to score goals this season, with only 29 in 30 Premier League matches.
But defender Bertrand is confident that the manager will get the balance right.
“My initial impressions have been very good. I’m looking forward to playing the remainder of the season with him,” he said. “He’s been there and done it. Even as a player, he’s vastly experienced as well and whatever he can share with us, we hope we can use and do what we need to do.
“We’ve just been working on the basics. Just refining the basics and upping our levels, our intensity and our attitude towards the game. For us, it’s about just getting a win and taking confidence from that. We can take progressing in the competition into the league.”
Hughes won two Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups as a player, as well as the now-defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup twice, and has 14 years’ experience at the top level as a manager with Blackburn, Manchester City, Fulham, QPR and Stoke.
He arrives at Southampton perhaps with a point to prove, having been dismissed by their relegation rivals Stoke in January following a humiliating FA Cup third-round defeat at League Two side Coventry.
Having secured his new club a semi-final place for the first time since 2003, he now turns his attention to pulling them clear of relegation trouble.
They have won just one of their past 17 league matches, with Bertrand suggesting that the blame for that has to be shared between the players and Pellegrino.
The full-back said: “It’s a shared responsibility, from the manager to the players. But when push comes to shove unfortunately it’s the manager that gets the bad end of it.”
Southampton face a huge match when they visit relegation rivals West Ham in the Premier League after the international break.
Bertrand said that there will be no place for Southampton nerves at the London Stadium, and that they have to go into the game positively.
“It’s definitely a massive game, and so it’s something you might as well look forward to. There is no other way,” he added. “You go there and relish the opportunity because if you come out of there with a result, it stands you in very good stead.”
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