Ralph Hasenhuttl apologised for Saints’ embarrassing 9-0 defeat to Leicester and admitted he didn’t think such a heavy loss was even possible.

Hasenhuttl was emotional and clearly shell-shocked in the immediate aftermath of the heaviest loss in the club’s history.

Asked simply for his reaction to the defeat, he said: “My reaction is that I must apologise for this performance.

“I think the 100 per cent responsibility for what happened today was no go in any way.

“I want to say that I am proud of the fans who were staying in the stadium until the end of the game because it was not easy to watch it for anybody who is following us or is a Southampton fan today. They did it quite well until the end to stay here and stay with us.

“We have to apologise for what happened and stand up again.”

Hasenhuttl went on to admit that he never dreamed that such a game was possible even after his long experience in football as a player and manager.

“No. My entire life I haven’t had a game like this and I never thought this can happen,” he confessed.

“Since managing 12 or 13 years as a head coach it is an experience I had never had in my life.”

Hasenhuttl made no attempt to pick apart the defeat in detail and instead reflected: “I think it is not the moment to go into details now. Everybody saw what happened.

“After the red card every attack was a goal nearly.

“There was no defending at all.

“If they didn’t pass the ball well to them then we did it for them.

“When you act like this you can’t be surprised about conceding nine goals.”

Hasenhuttl was asked whether he felt his team gave up and replied: “You can call it if you want gave up, you can call it helpless. You can it whatever you want. The result is for everything perfect – you can combine everything with the result if you want.

“It was a disaster.”

He added: “We will see what this will do with our team.

“I cannot give you the answer now. I can give you the answer after the next games.”

Asked what was said in the dressing room after the game Hasenhuttl said: “Not much.”

Saints now face the daunting prospect of two trips to Manchester City in the space of just a few days. They play at the Etihad Stadium in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday before taking on Pep Guardiola’s team in the Premier League a week today.