New Southampton boss Ivan Juric insists the Premier League’s bottom side can do “something exceptional” in their relegation fight as he prepares to implement his “death metal” style of play.
The Croatian was in the stands for Sunday’s goalless draw with Fulham as he awaited a work permit, and will take charge for the first time when Saints host West Ham on Boxing Day.
Juric revealed his new employers initially reached out two years ago when he was in charge of Torino, and while he remained at the Serie A side the Southampton project always remained a “dream.”
The 49-year-old said: “It will be a very tough job and I know that in the history nobody stayed in the Premiership with this situation, but like I said, I think there are a lot of good players, and we have much better in some moments of the game.
“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.
“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 signed an 18-month contract at St Mary’s and succeeds the sacked Russell Martin, who was often questioned for his decision not to sway from the style of football that saw Southampton win promotion back to the Premier League in May.
Asked about his rumoured preference for death metal music, Juric replied: “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.”
More tactically speaking Juric said his style was “work hard, press hard, play good, be intense, all this stuff.
“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.”
Southampton, with six points, are eight points from safety after Sunday’s stalemate.
The former Croatia midfielder began his managerial career at Mantova before moving on to Crotone, Genoa and Hellas Verona.
He led Torino to three mid-table finishes in Serie A, forging a reputation for being in charge of defensively solid teams, before leaving them at the end of last season.
Juric replaced Daniele De Rossi as Roma boss in mid-September but lasted less than two months in the Italian capital after claiming only four wins from 12 games.
While some managers might be intimidated by the prospect of inheriting a relegation-battling side, Juric is unfazed.
He added: “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.”
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