Southampton Coach & Aribo Celebrate First Win Of The Season

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl praised the reaction of his players to falling behind, as Saints rallied to secure their first win of the season at Leicester.

For the second week running, Saints were faced with a deficit, having claimed a point from 2-0 down against Leeds at St Mary’s last weekend.

This time around, James Maddison’s free-kick left Hasenhüttl’s side trailing until substitute Ché Adams struck twice in 16 second-half minutes complete a dramatic turnaround in the East Midlands.

Nigeria international Joe Aribo saw action for 88 minutes and he was a handful for Leicester City who had two other Nigerian national team players in their squad.

Wilfred Ndidi started the match while Kelechi Iheanacho was introduced min then 76th minute but they couldn’t stop the momentum of Aribo and pals.

Aribo was ecstatic after the victory at the King Power Stadium and tweeted, “First win of the season & what a win it was! Enjoy your weekend Saints ♥️“.

“We have showed again a good reaction after conceding a goal from a free-kick, which was I think the only shot on target in the second half from Leicester,” Hasenhüttl reflected.

“That would be horrible to lose a game like this. You could see immediately the team would not accept that we lose here – they stepped up and showed we can also score goals, and the reaction was fantastic today.

“Maybe it’s the effect of having nothing to lose, that you can play with more risk. Especially for our young lads, it’s a good moment to show up, and that’s what they did.”

Introduced on the hour mark, Adams scored his first goal eight minutes later and his second – a spectacular acrobatic volley – six minutes from time.

“With the change of the striker, Ché gives you a little bit more experience and he had a fantastic impact today. The second one (goal) was unbelievable,” Hasenhüttl added.

“We need a bigger squad this season with the five subs, and when we always have a reaction like this it’s fantastic.

“We know we are always working hard for every inch, and when you come on as a fresh player, you have to show you are there to decide something.”