Muller: “I Felt Like I Took My Chance”

Hayden Muller was encouraged by Sutton United’s 3-3 draw with Hartlepool United on his return to the team, taking plenty of positives from an entertaining afternoon in what was his first Sutton appearance of the season.

Muller had been deemed to not be a part of Steve Morison’s plans after signing at the start of the 2024/25 campaign, and was subsequently loaned out to Salisbury in order to maintain match fitness, having not trained with the First Team at all in 2025/26.

However, the arrival of Chris Agutter brought a new-found faith in the former Millwall youngster, who has been impressed by the 23-year old in training and was rewarded with a recall from his loan in Wiltshire, before coming straight in from the start against Hartlepool.

Reflecting on the game, the defender, who played in a more advanced role in midfield, felt Sutton’s early play showed the hard work being done on the training pitch.

“I thought the first 25-30 minutes you could see what we’d been working on in training” he said.

“I thought the patterns were really coming through and what the gaffer wanted. We were clean on transition, we really created quite a few chances to be fair, and then I thought the second half they changed shape, they matched us up with a four-box-two and then it kind of nullified what we were trying to do when we were playing out.”

“We should have got our full backs out more, we should have spotted that earlier. I felt like it took a while for us to really see that that was the out ball, and then obviously, football’s in moments, we just didn’t defend well enough on, I think, all three goals, but especially the final two goals that they scored, the second and third.

In what was a slightly different role for Muller, who operated further forward than usual after spending much of last season in defence, he comfortably pulled the strings alongside Jack Wadham and showed his ability on the ball with plenty of good work in transition, showing why he was brought in to the club from Dundalk in the first place.

“I found it comfortable to be fair,” he said. “I played there for a spell in Ireland about a year and a half ago and I thought I did well.”

“When I was growing up, I played midfield quite a lot, so I’ve always had that in me, but I feel that after a run of games, I’ll just get better and better in there.”

In what was a quick turnaround for him too, Muller has quickly returned from his loan at Salisbury to start after training over the last couple of weeks with the First Team, and the 23-year-old spoke positively about his new manager’s influence since his arrival, while admitting that the last few months hadn’t been straight-forward but felt his return offered a fresh start.

“Football’s about having someone that backs you,” he added. “From the moment I stepped into training with Agi [Agutter], he took a liking to me for whatever reason.”

“I’m looking forward to building a good relationship with him and with the new players we’ve brought in. I feel like we’ve got a really strong group and can definitely progress forward.”

“Obviously it’s been tough, I came back for pre-season and was told I wouldn’t be training with the group for whatever reason. Football’s about opinions, and I felt the previous manager just had the wrong opinion on me. So I worked hard, got myself on loan to stay fit, and I feel like I took my chance today.”

Looking ahead, Muller believes his presence in midfield can help Sutton find balance and stability as the team continues to evolve.

“I think I can bring a bit of steel into the midfield,” he said. “I’m good on the ball, and I think me and Jack Wadham brought good balance in the two pivots today.”

“Skip [Aaron Jones] played some really nice passes to me, you can see that they’re all talented, it’s just about gelling.”

“Football, especially in the back five, it’s just about moments; we switched off three times and they scored three goals, we got punished.”

“Other than that, we didn’t really give up many chances, so yeah, those partnerships, obviously between the back five and me and Wads are just going to carry on building as we play more games, and I think we’ll just get better and better.”

Muller also took the chance to address the personal difficulties he’s faced during the current campaign, but has shown plenty of determination to prove himself once more, starting with his maiden appearance of the season for the U’s.

“It’s been tough” he said. “I came back for pre-season and was told I wouldn’t be training with the group for whatever reason.”

“Football’s about opinions at the end of the day and I feel like the previous manager just had the wrong opinion on me from my point of view.”

“So I’ve had to work hard, take it on the chin, got myself on loan to get game time, stay fit, snd yeah, I felt like I took my chance today.

“I feel like I just need to keep doing that and proving this manager right and the previous one wrong.”