New Southampton boss confident he can save Saints with death metal style football

New Southampton manager Ivan Juric is confident he can save them from relegation and has tasked the Premier League’s bottom club with achieving “something exceptional”.

The Croatian tactician, who observed his new team’s stalemate with Fulham from the stands due to work permit formalities, is set to make his managerial debut for the Saints in their Boxing Day clash with West Ham.

Juric, known for his high-intensity “death metal” football philosophy, disclosed that Southampton had made initial contact with him two years prior while he was at the helm of Torino.

Although he stayed with the Italian club, the prospect of managing Southampton remained a persistent “dream”.

The 49-year-old is aware of the daunting task he faces but remains hopeful he can save the Saints: “I am optimistic. I’m really optimistic. Even the other day, I saw their mentality, and it’s the first step to doing better.

“I think we can do something exceptional. The guys have to be very motivated to do something that never, nobody did.”

Juric, who has penned an 18-month deal at St Mary’s, is succeeding Russell Martin, whose unwavering commitment to a particular style of play drew criticism despite leading the team to promotion back to the top flight in May.

Juric added of his players: “They don’t know me but I know them. I said that I believe in them, they have quality, they can do it. Be positive, work hard, and everything is possible.

Juric, when quizzed about his reported fondness for death metal music, confessed: “When I was young I liked death metal music a lot, and that’s something I think my style of football is like metal music.

“Now a little bit less, I’m a little bit soft now, but it’s always in my head, good metal music.” Delving into tactics, Juric explained his approach as “work hard, press hard, play good, be intense, all this stuff.”

He added: “I think (the players) can do it. They are young, they are positive, they want to work hard. It’s not easy to change the style immediately, but we have to be clever, not throwing what they did in the past, but trying to put in some other things of course.”

After Sunday’s draw, Southampton sit eight points adrift of safety with just six points. The former Croatian midfielder has a history of managing teams known for their defensive solidity.

He has previously held positions at Mantova, Crotone, Genoa, Hellas Verona, and leading Torino to three mid-table finishes in Serie A before departing last season.

Juric took over from Daniele De Rossi as Roma boss in mid-September but had a short stint, lasting less than two months after only four wins from 12 matches. Despite the challenge of taking over a team struggling against relegation, Juric remains undaunted.

He continued: “It was a little bit of a dream, the Southampton opportunity, and I was thinking that life is short, I want to try new things and I want to travel to the other way of working, put myself in a difficult situation, and that’s it.”