Ryan Sessegnon and Eric Dier had put Spurs into a 2-1 lead at the break following James Ward-Prowse’s opener but it was the home side’s third goal, inadvertently put into the Saints’ goal by centre-back Mohammed Salisu, that left Hasenhuttl in the most despair.
Having initially failed to stop the counter-attack from taking place, the 23-year-old Ghanaian sprinted back to his box and looked like he only had to swipe the ball clear after Emerson Royal’s cross fell unthreateningly towards him.
Instead, Salisu used his left foot and, off balance, managed to divert the ball into his own net, much to the dismay of his manager.
“This is individual quality,” Hasenhuttl told reporters afterwards. “Like with the first goal where Kyle [Walker-Peters] is not there to stop the cross. In situations like this normally we cannot concede a goal here.
“It’s easy [for Salisu] to clear with the right foot here. This is simply not good enough at this level.”
Hasenhuttl was also clearly upset with the demeanour in which his side conceded to Spurs, with the team showing the same kind of malaise that was on offer during the back-end of last season when Saints won just one of their final 12 matches of the campaign.
“We tried a different way of defending. We’ve often been criticised for behind pressing saying that it doesn’t work for 90 minutes or whatever.
“But the fact is that we are also deep defending not completely safe because we have enough players in the box of the key the first two goals we have been imbalanced in shape if you want and still able to concede this is not good.”
Hassenhuttl will hope his side can overturn their game week 1 disappointment when they take on Leeds United next weekend
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