Southampton boss Hasenhuttl lauds Djenepo after Sheffield United heroics

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has showered praise on Moussa Djenepo following his match-winning goal which gave the visitors a 1-0 win over Sheffield United.

 Djenepo, who was making his first full debut in the Premier League on Saturday, separated the teams at Bramall Lane with his 66th-minute effort.

The Mali midfielder dribbled past three defenders before slotting his right-footed shot past goalkeeper Dean Henderson to grab his second goal in the English top-flight since his arrival from Standard Liege in June.

Hasenhuttl is delighted with the quality the 21-year-old brings to the Saints’ frontline, which complements the dribbling skills of Morocco’s Sofiane Boufal and Nathan Redmond.

“First, I think I have to thank my physios who made a fantastic job so that he can play [on Saturday] because it didn’t look that good and also him that he really wants to play,” Hasenhuttl told the club website.

“In these scenes, he shows how important he can be in our game and this is fantastic. We now have another player who is very good in one versus one situations.

"We have Sofiane, we have him, we have Nathan so the quality we have in the front is fantastic.

“They are hard to read and when they have the ball they are always very, very good and dangerous. This is absolutely a development from last season.”

Djenepo played in the left-back position in the opening 45 minutes of the encounter before advancing forward after in the second half.

Hasenhuttl backed his tactical decision for the switch in positions and also praised the Mali international for his versatility.

“We know that he is not really a typical full-back or left-back but I wanted to have high pressure on this side from the beginning," he added.

“He had a lot of ball winnings on this side with a chance to score early so that was the reason why I was that brave and tried to be very offensive on this side.

“It’s also good that we can change the players and we have players like Cedric who can play both sides, so you change within the game without making a substitution.

“That’s important today in the modern football and this is the demand from every player that he does not say ‘I cannot play there’, if you have to do this then you do it.”