With a three week break until the next game, a vital six point trip down the coast to Brighton Ralph Hasenhuttl is aiming to ensure the momentum gained isn't lost.

The surprise victory over Spurs meant that Saints stayed out of the relegation zone after taking 6 points from the 3 games prior to the break.

Ralph Hasenhuttl now needs to ensure his squad don't lose focus and momentum with the enforced lay off and that the benefit of being able to get key players fit and back in contention isn't overshadowed by a loss of concentration on the task ahead and complacency doesn't slip in.

The Austrian manager had this to say about how he will keep his squad on track.

“During the three weeks they will have time to rest but the important signal is that we tell them it is not gone now and that it is still a fight we have to give because the other opponents are only two points away."

“Cardiff are only two points behind us and if we lost to Tottenham we would have been under the line and so it is not the moment to rest. It is not the moment to lean back. It is the moment to take this time."

“They will get time off but also there is time where we want to work on details on our game and I think with the win in the mind it is much easier than in the last break we had.”

“This situation is something new for me,” he reflected.

“Missing a Premier League game or league games because of a cup game is a completely new experience for me and to have such a long break is unnatural. A little bit crazy.

“We have to handle it and take the time.

“The first week we have all the players here and the next two weeks they go to the national teams and then training is not so easy because you cannot work on anything."

“The first week we take a few steps towards the Brighton game but then they go off and forget everything so it doesn’t really make sense.

“We find something to keep ourselves in rhythm but it’s not easy.”

Saints are at least in high spirits and looking good in their fight for survival and Hasenhuttl added: “The quality we show is one thing but you have to get points for it and that is the important thing.

“It doesn’t matter if you play well and lose the games. It doesn’t make any difference. You lose.

“The most important thing is to consistently take points."

“You cannot expect that we take three against Tottenham but it’s better to take this three than maybe one against Man United and one against Tottenham.

“It is fantastic that we won this game but it is still hard work.”

Hasenhuttl is right to be concerned, however it is not all bleak, several of the teams around them are also twiddling their thumbs for the whole three weeks and everyone is in the same boat for the final two weeks because of the International break.

The real issue is to guard against complacency, there is a new feeling of optimism in the supporter base and Hasenhuttl's record since his arrival is impressive and he has achieved that with almost exclusively the squad he has to work with now, although there were no arrivals in January, the departures had little game time under the Austrian so there is no reason why it should not continue.

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underweststand added 17:00 - Mar 12 Just when it seems Ralph has got most of the available pieces in place ..and waiting for Ings and Lemina to get 100% fit...we suddenly get a "scare story" that Spurs might consider a bid for JWP in the summer. (shock /horror) The prospect of Spurs finishing the season again without winning anything, and perhaps seeing Eriksen, Kane or whoever....on their way to Real Madrid...means that Pochettino (that's if he stays after the summer) will need a free-kick specialist to cover their loss. One wonders how Ralph might react if this were to become a reality ?.. Personally ..I would never want to do another deal with Spurs with a player plus money deal with them, as we've been been well and truly s*rew*d in every deal we've done with them going back to losing Alf Ramsey in the late 1940's. Getting big money for Martin Chivers only to lose half of it in getting Frank Saul was bad enough, but the the Gareth Bale deal was too cheap, and we got that great England prospect Tommy Forecast in part payment. I bet Levy is still laughing about that one . Spurs have a lot of crocks and deadbeats on their books that they want to clear out. Alderweireld was lured away after his great season with us, and( at the time) the pittance we got for Wanyama was a disgrace. No thanks. Mr.Levy. If we lose what is left of our best products we also stand the chance of losing our manager when Pochettino takes a step up...maybe to manage Barcelona. (?) I applaud everything Ralph is trying to do, but we can't run the risk of another loss of our " Crown Jewels " (as when Pochettino left us) , and the rest of the best went to Liverpool.

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A1079 added 08:46 - Mar 13 I am not sure how you can ensure something like this, but if he means, he wants to make sure that the team do not switch off and forget they have a very important game following this break then clearly he needs to do that and have them ready and very much up for it, as to win it would really put us in a good place and lose it would have the opposite effect. I suppose my biggest concerns are, that we have not come back well after a break of any kind, always slow to start from a close season and always prone to lose momentum when we have had a break. The recent one and the trip to the Canaries was followed by 3 poor results - which we can ill afford this time. My other concern is that on the back of a great 45 minutes on Saturday there seems to be too much celebrating and the fact that we could just as easily have lost on Saturday (our first 45 mins were pretty poor) or we could lose the next 2 games and be back in the mire, seems to be lost. Despite the loss of a key player to Cardiff (and the degree of gloating of it on this site), as I warned, it is dangerous to think that Cardiff are dead and buried - they clearly aren't - though they were helped by an abject West Ham performance (something we never seem to have the benefit of from our opposing teams). Need to forget Tottenham game now and move on. There is along way to go. I believe we can do it and have every faith in RH but as much as our players can pull off moments of glory they are just as likely to shoot themselves in the foot (as we have witnessed on many occasion).

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