Hojbjerg apologises to fans after the red card incident
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has apologised to the Southampton fans following his sending off in the club’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday. The Dane received the marching orders from the referee after a horrible double-legged challenge on Fernandinho with five minutes to go.
The red card spoiled a good game for the former Bayern Munich man after he had cancelled out David Silva’s opener with an emphatic finish past Ederson. However, an own goal from James Ward-Prowse and a third from Sergio Aguero left the Saints with too much ground to make up in the second half.
In a statement released on Saints’ Twitter account, the midfielder said: “I would like to apologise about my red card and letting my team-mates down.
“Sometimes my passion takes over my control, but I will work hard on this and I’m focused on coming back stronger.
“The support was great again and we must keep pulling together in one direction to reach our potential.”
Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted his team had no intention of going all-out in search of an unlikely comeback in the second half, knowing they risked conceding further goals and losing heavily against the champions.
“At the break, we made the decision that we don’t go all in and take too much risk,” the Austrian said.
“We wanted to show in the second half that we can defend and not to lose the second half, if you want.
“Then, maybe you get a second goal and I think we have one header off a free-kick which could have given us a chance to come back.
“The substitutions I made were very focused on the Chelsea game. The worst moment of the evening was the red card for Pierre because on 85 minutes the game was gone and it was silly, which he knows. It could cost us a lot.”
