Ralph Hasenhuttl was appointed as Southampton's new manager on Wednesday.

The Austrian signed a two-and-a-half-year deal and his first game at the helm will be an important trip to fellow Premier League strugglers Cardiff City on Saturday.

Mark Hughes was relieved of his duties on Monday despite keeping Southampton in the top flight last season.

But why have the Saints, who sit 18th in the table, turned to former RB Leipzig boss Hasenhuttl? We take a closer look at his managerial record with the assistance of Opta.

FROM THE BOTTOM TO THE TOP

Aalen were 14th in the third tier when Hasenhuttl took over in January 2011 but he got them promoted the following season and kept them in the 2. Bundesliga with a ninth-place finish in 2012-13.

Ingolstadt were the next beneficiaries of Hasenhuttl's leadership, remaining in the second tier by finishing 10th despite being bottom when he was appointed in October 2013. They won the title in 2014-15 and were promoted to the Bundesliga, where they finished an impressive 11th.

Hasenhuttl then moved to Leipzig ahead of their maiden top-flight campaign and they placed only behind Bayern Munich, qualifying for the Champions League – the best finish for a Bundesliga debutant since the inaugural 1963-64 season.

Kaiserslautern are the only newly promoted side to have done better, having won the league in 1997-98 immediately after promotion.

UPWARD TREND

Not only did Hasenhuttl turn around the fortunes of Aalen and Ingolstadt and take RB Leipzig to new heights, his average points-per-game return has increased through each of those jobs.

Aalen: 1.46
Ingolstadt: 1.53
RB Leipzig: 1.76

Hasenhuttl's overall points per game in the Bundesliga stands at 1.57 from 102 matches during his stints with Ingolstadt and RB Leipzig.

OVERALL STATS

Hasenhuttl has a solid record in German professional football, which started with three years at Unterhaching between 2007 and 2010.

He has overseen 335 games in all competitions and has a win rate of 42 per cent. His teams scored an average of 1.39 goals per games and conceded 1.19.