Joao’s five-point preview - Southampton

Assistant Head Coach Joao Sacramento looks ahead to our FA Cup fourth round replay against Southampton at the new stadium this evening (7.45pm).

1 - City

Before looking forward, a quick look back at Sunday’s fine 2-0 win against City. What can a win like that do for the group?

Joao: “It was a great win, the kind of win this team and especially the fans were deserving for a while. These guys… only the people who work with us every day know how hard they work and how united they are. If you look at how they celebrated the goal and a substitute player and a non-squad player celebrates with them, that’s a sign this group is united and deserved that win. The game was emotionally very demanding, and the players never gave up. They stuck to the strategy and they were brilliant. We believe we need to continue in this way. This is the kind of mentality we are looking for.”

2 - Saints, part 1

How were things looking going into Wednesday night’s replay?

Joao: “It will be a tough game, Southampton have more than 24 hours to recover than us. The team is a little tired, we have some players we need to test, but we believe with the support of the fans… we believe they can be our 12th player.”

3 - The 12th man...

Joao mentioned the importance of the fans, so we followed up by asking how seeing a packed stadium for this replay would impact the players...

Joao: “It’s the 12th player and it means a lot to the players, sometimes you are tired and you think you don’t have the energy but with the help of the fans and the emotion that they can put on a game, that can make a difference. We need them, for sure.”

4 - Saints, part 2

Back to Southampton, what is Joao expecting from Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men in the replay? Saints may have lost at Anfield on Saturday, but they’ve only lost two in their last 10 in all competitions...

Joao: “For me, it’s clear that the tactical change from a back three to a back four, playing 4-4-2 since December, you can see a massive difference. The team is compact, solid defensively and has a lot of quality, a hard team to play. We’re expecting a very hard game against a team that press high, a manager who when he was in Germany (Hasenhuttl was at RB Leipzig 2016-18) always pressed high, he’s stuck to his philosophy and we can see his work right now.”

5 - The story so far…

Joao has been at the Club as part of Jose Mourinho’s coaching staff for about 10 weeks now - how has he enjoyed his time so far?

Joao: “This is a great club, great players. We believe that we have all the conditions to do a great job and we want trophies for this club.”