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Ralph Is Taking The Positives From The Arsenal Game

Inside Ralph Hasenhuttl must feel gutted that we didn't leave the Emirates with all three points, but in his head he knows that there are a lot more positives to come from the game than negatives.

In the 13th game of last season Saints travelled to the Emirates and came away with a draw, there was disappointment that day as well with an equaliser conceded deep into injury time.

But if we take a look at the table back then, after this game we were 19th in the league with only 9 points and we had also the stigma of "That" game a few weeks earlier still hanging over us.

It was only our 2nd point in 8 League games and as we drowned our sorrows in London afterwards, few Saints fans saw much cause for optimism.

Arsenal were unhappy with a point as well, they were left in 8th place on 18 points, if they had won they would have been 5th.

But here we just over a year later and the positions have been almost reversed, if someone had said on the train home that night that after the same number of games next season we would be 3rd I would have assumed they were drunk and that I certainly wasn't drunk enough to believe them.

But here we are and Ralph Hasenhuttl's job is to keep his team going and in his after match comments he has reminded Saints supporters of what has been achieved and the respect that others now have for us.

Ralph emphasised that it is a sign of Southampton's progress that people are suggesting that they should feel disappointed about not winning against Arsenal.

"We are talking about Arsenal, a team that is normally above us in the table, but they are ten points behind us," he said, speaking to the BBC after the game.

"Let’s not forget where we are coming from and where they are coming from, so it is not normal to control a game against them for 90 minutes.

"It was good for us to see that we can still be competitive towards the end.”

Hasenhuttl believes other sides are now showing respect for his side and what they have done in recent months, that they know they have a game on their hands and will up their own because of that, adding that it is important for Southampton to keep picking up results.

"I know what qualities we have and you can feel now that a lot of teams have respect for what we are doing and how we are playing, and this is a good message for our players.

"I said to my players, heads up, you have played well. Ok we didn’t manage to win the game, but this will come. We have come so far and we want to be clinical and win the game, but I was ok with a point. It is important for us to be getting results and consistently getting points, especially against top six teams and to do it here, it is ok.”

Ralph is right and it is a timely reminder to Saints fans not to get too carried away and to accept that not every dropped point is a disaster, this is a strange season and plenty of teams are dropping points and the League is very condensed.

A year ago Liverpool were runaway leaders on 37 points, our tally of 24 this season would have put us in 5th place a year ago, but we would have been 5 points clear of Wolves in 6th.

Indeed this season Wolves sit in 10th place this term on 20 points, 1 more than they had at the same period a year ago, that shows how tough Saints task is going to be this season, a year ago the top sides beat everyone else bar themselves, this season everyone is getting points.

So a timely reminder to remember where we have come from in just a year, that we are still a work in progress, but there is a clear plan, a clear strategy and there is much light at the end of the tunnel.

It is time to be positive about our club, not turn every little thing into a negative, we have spent far too long feeling sorry for ourselves, we currently have someone in charge of the team and indeed a team to be proud of, lets talk up Southampton Football Club and not dwell on what might have or might not have been in the past.

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