Sacking season is in full swing in the Premier League, and the scythe has just claimed its latest victim: Southampton's Ralph Hasenhuttl.
The Austrian had been in charge at St. Mary's since 2018 when he replaced Mark Hughes, making one of the Premier League's longest-serving managers until he received his marching orders following a heavy defeat against Newcastle.
Hasenhuttl's time on the South Coast will be remembered for its topsy-turvy nature. At times, the Saints looked immense, even topping the league table at one point early in the 2020-21 campaign.
At their worst, however, Hasenhuttl's Southampton side was a porous, shapeless mess, conceding goals for fun and looking like considerably less than the sum of their parts.
Let's take a look at some of the worst defeats Southampton suffered under Ralph Hasenhuttl.
Burnley 3-0 Southampton - 10/08/2019
Years from now, scholars of our beautiful game will point to this game as a definitive meeting of the two greatest tactical minds of their era. The cold, hard pragmatism of Sean Dyche's Burnley, versus the gung-ho pressing machine of Hasenhuttl's Southampton. What could go wrong?
Anyone who experienced Burnley's tripe-based football substitute for five years straight will understand just what it means to lose 3-0 to them. Make no bones about it - this was a humiliating result for Hasenhuttl. But the worst was yet to come...
Southampton 0-9 Leicester City - 25/10/2019
You knew we were going to mention it, so we might as well get it out of the way.
To be fair to Ralph, very few managers survive losing 9-0 - just ask Scott Parker. Despite suffering abject humiliation at St. Mary's, it would be over three years before Hasenhuttl finally got the sack. In many ways, that's a testament to how well he did for large periods of his time at the club.
As long as Ralph and his boys didn't suffer any more 9-0 defeats, everything would work out fine... right?
Southampton 0-9 Manchester United - 02/02/2021
Oh. Oh.
Getting slapped 9-0 is one thing. Getting slapped 9-0 at home is another thing. But getting slapped 9-0 at home in consecutive seasons?
Hindsight's a wonderful thing, but you have to wonder how Hasenhuttl survived this one.
Leicester 1-0 Southampton - 18/04/2021
Okay, so this wasn't one of the more embarrassing results of Hasenhuttl's reign - but it's what it represented that makes it so devastating.
A win over Leicester City at Wembley would have sent Southampton to the FA Cup final. Had they gone on to win a trophy, who knows what might have been? One thing's for sure: we'd be assessing Hasenhuttl's time at the club in a very different way.
Unfortunately, the Saints failed to register a shot on target and lost to a second-half goal by Kelechi Iheanacho. Oh well.
Southampton 0-6 Chelsea - 09/04/2022
Top of every manager's to-do list is always the same thing: make your home ground a fortress.
Ralph evidently missed the memo on this one, managing to ship six goals against a famously goal-shy Chelsea side during the back end of Thomas Tuchel's time at the club.
When Timo Werner scores a brace against you, you know you've got real problems.
Source : 90min