Southampton Season Preview: Pellegrino appointed

Last season Southampton finished 15 points behind Ronald Koeman’s Everton, netting 18 fewer goals than the year before the Dutchman left. Was last season regression for the Saints? Supporter Joe Jenness has his say.

Sadly so. After the post-christmas run of the previous season (after Leicester, we were the second-best term in terms of form) it was disappointing to see Koeman jump ship to Everton. At the time, we were a far better prospect, though given the money he has spent in the last few weeks, maybe he felt it was better for his career, (though more likely his bank balance). That season though was an anomaly and last year normal business was resumed.

Koeman did excellently to take Everton to 7th but had the same problem we have – better than other teams but not as good the rest. The gulf you mentioned sums it up, we were woeful for most of the season and scrapped 8th, thanks in no small part to West Broms incompetence and Bournemouth being held to a draw on the last day. Without disrespect to either clubs, we should have finished there on merit.

A collective sigh of relief rang out in St Marys when the position was confirmed, but the gap between us and Everton had lead to widespread discontent. After all the progress we had made over the previous years, to be closer to relegation then Europe was not good enough and for that Puel had to go.

Despite the team’s EFL Cup run, Claude Puel has paid for the poor league performance with his job. Was it the safe, possession football and the lack of pace that frustrated fans most? 

I felt sorry for Puel, because given all accounts he was a very nice man, but he didn’t do a good job. It’s a shame, because he was clearly an astute tactician and there were games where he got it spot on, especially away from home. He never seemed to get anyone, from the players to the fans, on side though. All season was thoroughly underwhelming (bar the cup run) from the turgid opening game to Watford, the limp loses in Europe to the final monotonous defeat to Stoke. The fans were singing for his sacking and it must be awful having 30, 000 fans people wishing for your failure, but football is a results business and he was not getting them.

Football fans can take losing when their team puts in the effort, but what they can’t take is players who are disinterested and playing uninspiring football. This season was the first time in 7 years I questioned renewing my season ticket as I could not sit through the dross that was being served up.

It seemed to be common knowledge that Puel had lost the dressing room and if I am cynical, I suspect the players got him sacked – once being dragged into a relegation battle was unlikely they downed tools and we went on record run of not scoring. In those games, we knocked the ball around, but the team had no intention of going for a win. That is the cynic in me talking and I would be very upset if I ever got proved right – millionaire footballers owe it to the fans (who part with their wages for expensive tickets) to do their best.

I wish him well though and thank him for two of my most memorable moments as a Saints fan; the EFL Final and beating Inter. I am sure he will go back to France and be successful.

New manager Mauricio Pellegrino favoured a more direct style of play at Alaves in La Liga. Do you expect a more direct style of play this term?

I will admit to being fairly ignorant of Pellegrino’s management prior to his appointment, but the response when he was appointed was very positive. I did a lot of research on him and having been very keen on Thomas Tuchel (who was linked but NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN) I am confident we have made an excellent appointment.

Many of the team have spoken about how much they’re enjoying the start of his reign. There have been favourable comparisons to Pochetino; he likes to press higher up the pitch and inspires comradery in his players. He is very dynamic tactically, which has been missing from the game plans of our last three managers.

I think to win so many plaudits in La Liga, taking a promoted and unfashionable side to mid-table is extremely commendable, so hopefully he can make the transition to the EPL. In our last pre-season game against St Etienne on Saturday we played very well and it was noted in the match report a more direct style, so I am looking forward to this against Swansea on the opening day.

You had that brief spurt of goals in February when Manolo Gabbiadini first joined. What was the team doing to create chances then that it wasn’t for the rest of the season?

I have never seen a player hit a ball as powerfully or as accurately as Gabbiadini did for his debut goal against West Ham. Everyone in the crowd gawped before they started cheering – it was a hell of a strike.

He has a very bright future in the game and I would expect him to be our top scorer this season. His movement is excellent and he is clearly a very predative striker, as his double against Sunderland (and his “hat-trick” in the cup final) prove.

I don’t know if it was a change of system or lack of fitness that curtailed his form, but we defiently stopped playing to his strengths when he returned. The cautious approach and narrow build up play meant he was marked and muscled out of games. Pace from wide areas and incisive build up will be vital to feed him goals. If we start creating more chances, he will finish them off.

In pre-season he has been used of the main striker (Austin) and this seems to have worked well as he is picking the ball up deep but also looking for flick ons and to beat the offside trap. Given the lack of goals last year it is good to see we are developing a system to accommodate them both.

Your best performances appeared to come when your full-backs, Cedric Soares and Ryan Bertrand, pushed forward. If the latter stays, how important will they be this year?

I think we have one of the best full back pairings in the league, though last year was perhaps one to forget for Bertrand. In many games, he looked lethargic and unwilling to take on his man or make an overlapping run. Over the last two years that has been a staple of our play (from both sides in fact). I hope that Bertrand has a return to form as he is the best left back in the league for me.

Both are excellent readers of the game, though Cedric is perhaps let down by his stature – he is not the biggest and I would like to see him work on that side of his game. With Martina moving on to Everton (we Saints fans are unanimously unsure why Koeman rates him so highly) we do not really have cover, so a player to push him in that position would be good.

Catching the games from pre-season, we seem to be playing to the flanks quickly and getting balls into the box. In our last two matches, three of the goals came from overlapping full backs, so maybe this is an indication of things to come. Both are excellent crossers of the ball, as are the two deputy left backs Targett and McQueen.

Oriol Romeu started 35 Premier League games, more than any other player. Do you need both him and Steven Davis in the same side? 

Romeu and Davis complement each other well, much like how Wanyama and Schneiderlin did before they moved on. All teams need a battering ram and for us that is Romeu. I would like him to take the captain’s arm band, he is sensible player on and off the field and the fans love him. Ditto we love Davis, who is tenacious in the tackle and intelligent in his passing. Both players do the donkey work for the team and need the other to fulfil their duties.

We have some decent CMs and in the long run I would like to see Hojberg go into Davis position; he’s not as energetic as Davis but his range of passing is pheromonal. I think Jordy Clasie has never looked strong enough for the Premier League and needs to go to a more technical league like Italy where he has been linked to Lazio.

Virgil Van Dijk picked up an injury in January, when Jose Fonte left for West Ham. How did the centre-back partnership of Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens get on?

Stephens and Yoshida did well but as much as it pains me to say it, they are not good enough to be our first-choice centre back pairing. Both lack aerial presence and when coming up against hulking centre forwards they struggled. I would like to see either alongside VVD (should he stay) but am not confident as a pairing for the season.

Jack has a bright future and I think will be a great player for us but still has areas to work on. His tackling and distribution is excellent so the signs are positive. I think Puel should be commended for keeping Stephens in the team even when he signed Caceres, that must have given Jack a huge amount of confidence. A part of me suspects Caceres was on pay as play though so the club were avoiding paying him!

A word on Jose, it was sad how things turned out. A friend has a contact at the club and it seemed that after winning the Euros, Fonte came back with a negative attitude. He was our captain and our leader, the last member of the League One team and to see him behave so petulantly really hurt. He was talking himself up for a move to United but yet ended up West Ham (who seem to be prepared to throw huge sums of money at players with no re-sale value, in the twilights of their careers). He made that move on no other basis then money and I wouldn’t be surprised if he drops a league in January.

Even though you scored just 41 league goals last season, your only signing has been another centre-back, Jan Bednarek. Is the club taking a risk in leaving business so late?

I think there are two ways to look at this; Football fans love to vicariously spend their clubs money and fret when millions of pounds are not forked out daily on new talent. All you need to do is go on Twitter and see fans enviously peeking over the fences of other clubs at their new players, despite the fact none of those players would get in our team.

The other is that we have a settled squad who under-performed last year – perhaps we stick with them and just add where we need to. We do not have the financial clout of Everton (who have done an excellent job spending £100 odd million to finish seventh), nor do we choose to make statement signings like West Ham, who seem to be buying players whose sell by date expired five years ago.
I am always dubious of huge overhauls in playing personnel, believing it is better to identify weak positions and improve them – this is something Saints are good at, as we have often bought improvements on what we’ve sold.

When we buy from other teams in the Premier League, we do it sensibly (Romeu and Bertrand for example) and we have an excellent scout network to bring in players from all over Europe for sustainable fees. We have our excellent youth academy and I expect a lot of players from there to be pushing for the first team. I am surprised that a lot of fans don’t understand our model of buying low and selling high, as much as the latter part frustrates us. Some fans were screaming for us to buy Defoe (36 years of age and £100k a week in wages) and couldn’t understand that this was not the clubs ethos. These are the same fans who complain when our youth players don’t get a chance.

One final point, I am of the view point that the market has gone mad and the sums for average players is ridiculous. I have seen my club nearly go out of business once before, so I am happy for them to continue to be pragmatic in their spending – they’ve not done a bad job over the last few years so why should I panic now?

Goalkeeper Fraser Forster started all 38 games last year but didn’t have the best shot/save rate. Do you expect more from him this year?

Fraser was quite symbolic of our season really; good on paper but statistically not up to scratch (I won’t say poor because he is still an excellent keeper). I would expect more of him though of course, because he is one of the three best English keepers in the league.

I still rate him though as he is the best goalie we’ve had in our Premier League era since Niemi. He can pull off wonderful saves but he is beaten to often by clinical finishers.  He also seems to have developed an aversion for coming of his line to for crosses, which given the lack of aerial ability from Stephens and Yoshida previously mentioned, left him exposed.

The more I write this preview the more I find myself wondering if the reason so many players did poorly last year because they were so unhappy with Puel’s football. I think Pellegrino will need to build up not just confidence but desire too.

Nathan Redmond looked inconsistent last year while Dusan Tadic did not quite live up to their usual standards. Is this a big season for your wingers/attacking midfielders?

For sure, as I mentioned earlier we seem to have attacked a lot down the wings in pre-season, so I would expect our game plan to look to stretch the opposition and both players can do that.

Oh, how both of those two frustrate and excite! Redmond seemed to be linked to us for years before joining and at times last year he was brilliant. Puel wanted to turn him into a striker but the experiment did not pay off. Redmond looks a confidence player very much – he came in for a lot stick from the crowd towards the end, which was disappointing, especially has his goals earned us a fair few points.

He seems to have all the elements there, pace, technique and a good shot, but can’t seem to combine it all regularly. Pace has always been lacking from our side and Redmond offers it and the confidence to take on his man. I would like to see him introverted, playing out wide but cutting in, I think that would suit his style.
Tadic on the other hand isn’t the quickest but offers trickery and a killer pass. At the start of the season when we are creating lots of chances they were usually from Tadic. As the season progressed his effort dropped. He was wrong to speak out about his frustrations and I think Puel did the right thing to discipline him, but he was still poor after that. I would prefer to see him through the middle, looking to dictate play as he can pass and cross with both feet.

You forgot to mention our record signing Boufal! Hopefully he will show his undoubted talent. He has been played through the middle in pre-season so maybe Pellegrino will give these three a fluid approach and allow them the freedom to swap positions.

Where will you finish? You’ve got your last couple of predictions pretty much spot on…

Saints will finish in the top 10 again…but again be a long way off the top 7. I believe the future is bright under Pellegrino and whilst pre-season has been encouraging, the same problem haunts us – we are better than those below but nowhere near as good as those above.

I think I speak for all fans when we say we hope for a return to attacking, entertaining football at St Marys with goals as a regular treat. If we could get to another cup final that would also be just lovely. Over to you MoPe…

The Football Lab’s Verdict

Southampton were worse last season than their eighth place finish suggested. They should compete reasonably well defensively, but Pellegrino has not been able to add players to help implement his direct style of play. The Saints may drop out of the top half for the first time in five years. 11th