RALPH Hasenhuttl revealed he has no idea why Cedric Soares pulled put of Saints Premier League match at Tottenham Hotspur BEFORE the players had even warmed up.

When Hasenhuttl changed his team shortly before kick-off, with Jannik Vestergaard brought in to replace Cedric, it was assumed that the right-back had sustained an injury while preparing for Saints’ first match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

But Hasenhuttl, revealed that was not the case.

He said: “It wasn’t the perfect start to the game. 

“You prepare for the game and then half an hour before he says he can’t train. 

“I don’t know what happened. It wasn’t the best preparation for the game. I haven’t spoken to him now but I will.” 

Hasenhuttl also explained that he recalled Jannik Vestergaard in place of Cedric instead of bringing in Yan Valery as a like-for-like replacement due to Spurs’ team selection.

Having prepared his team to play with a back four, they played with three centre-halves and James Ward-Prowse and Ryan Bertrand deployed as wing-backs.

“Spurs had a different shape to what we expected,” he explained. 

“We were expecting 4-3-3 and they were playing with a diamond and a deeper number ten. 

“I wanted our wingers to put pressure on their full backs earlier. This was the reason we tried to switch to three centre-backs. 

“It worked very well for the first ten-15 minutes but after the goal we struggled to find answers.”