FORMER Premier League manager Martin O’Neill and Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher agreed as the boss suggested Saints should have stuck with Ralph Hasenhuttl this season.

The Austrian was sacked in November after nearly four years in charge following 12 points in the first 14 games of the league campaign.

Nathan Jones, Luton Town boss, replaced him but was also dismissed after just one win in his eight matches – and current manager Ruben Selles stepped up from the coaching team.

Saints have earned just 12 points in the 21 matches that have followed Hasenhuttl’s tenure this campaign and now face likely relegation with an eight-point gap between themselves and safety.

O’Neill, former Republic of Ireland, Sunderland and Aston Villa manager, suggested that with hindsight he thinks the St Mary’s side should have kept Hasenhuttl.

“The evidence looks very clear. Hasenhuttl obviously had a difficult time, he had been there a while,” the Northern Irishman said, on Sky Sports.

“Sometimes, when you are a manager and you are there for a while and the results aren’t going well, people start to get annoyed very, very quickly with you.

“There’s a call for change so very quickly nowadays. The results suggest nothing has improved with the two managers since and with hindsight, which is a wonderful thing, they should have stuck with him."

Carragher agreed, adding: “It is easy with hindsight, Hasenhuttl had been there a few years and done a decent job as we all felt.

“The biggest thing was bringing in Nathan Jones, looking at the results, it didn’t work.”