Premier League season preview: Southampton
After a surprising sixth place Premier League finish last season, Southampton will rely on their young talent once again.
INS: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (undisclosed, Bayern Munich), Alex McCarthy (£4 million, Crystal Palace), Nathan Redmond (£11 million, Norwich)
OUTS: Kelvin Davis (retired), Sadio Mane (£34 million, Liverpool), Graziano Pelle (undisclosed, Shandong Luneng), Gaston Ramirez (released), Victor Wanyama (undisclosed, Tottenham)
THE STORY: After a successful 2013-14 Premier League campaign, in which they finished eighth, Southampton have been expected to struggle mightily in both of the past two seasons. The Saints had lost a whole slew of top talent over the previous two years, with Liverpool alone signing four of their best players: Adam Lallana, Ricky Lambert, Nathaniel Clyne and Dejan Lovren. Manchester United swooped in for Luke Shaw and Morgan Schneiderlin.
Even so, the Saints finished eighth again in 2014-15 and sixth in 2015-16. Their resiliency has been remarkable given the squad turnover. Two things stand out as catalysts for this success: recently-departed manager Ronald Koeman and Southampton’s youth system, which has recently cranked out stars such as Theo Walcott, Luke Shaw, Gareth Bale and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin.
Southampton are again expected to struggle in 2016-17, with Liverpool again scooping up one of their top players — Sadio Mane (he scored the fastest Premier League hat trick ever last season against Aston Villa, completing it in just under three minutes). Forward Graziano Pelle, meanwhile, left to chase all the money in China.
Players were not the only assets lured to “greener” pastures, as Koeman signed on with Everton after two fantastic seasons with the Saints. Frenchman Claude Puel has been brought in to lead the club after 16 seasons managing in France.
But, based on the past two seasons, it wouldn’t be wise to count on a Southampton collapse. They still have quality pieces in place, and made a few moves in the transfer window to bolster the squad.
Losing Victor Wanyama has raised some concern in defensive midfield, but Steven Davis will continue to play a large role in the middle of the pitch and deserves more credit and attention than he receives. Dusan Tadic, meanwhile, has the potential to be a great goal creator, and certainly has the ability to pop up at any time with a strike from distance.
The Saints brought in Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Bayern Munich, who, aside from appearing to be missing a few vowels in his surname, looks likely to develop a decent chemistry with Tadic. Nathan Redmond, formerly of Norwich, was Southampton’s other signing in midfield and will probably be used as Mane’s “replacement” on the wing. He wasn’t a consistent starter for Norwich, but showed flashes of play-making ability that could prove vital for the Saints this season.
Southampton’s greatest strength is their defense. Fraser Forster established himself as one of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers last season, setting a club record for minutes without conceding a goal (708). They have also managed to hang onto one of the best left backs in the league in Ryan Bertrand, who excels in both defense and attack, and one of the best center-backs in the league in Virgil van Dijk.
Southampton’s key weakness is at the other end of the pitch, where they may struggle to score goals. They will have a busy schedule this season with their Europa League commitments and Puel will have to develop some viable attacking threats while balancing playing time.
Shane Long and Charlie Austin will need to become more consistent goal scoring options, while Tadic and Redmond need to be major sources of chance creation in midfield in order for the Saints to qualify for Europe again next season.
KEY PLAYER: Long and Austin must score goals, but the key to Southampton’s success this season will be the play of Tadic. The Serbian winger is sublime on the ball at times, and is a constant threat to unleash Hellfire-missile strikes from outside the box. He will need to be more consistently dangerous as the primary creative threat for the Saints.
His potential to involve others in the attack, and to develop strong partnerships with new signings Hojbjerg and Redmond, will be the most important factor in easing concerns about Southampton’s ability to generate goals.
MANAGER: Southampton will hope that first-year manager Puel can replicate the huge success of his predecessor. He most recently helmed Nice in France, narrowly missing out on a Champions League spot last season. He guided Lyon to the Champions League semifinals in 2010, a first for the club. During his initial stint as a first team manager, Puel led Monaco to the Ligue 1 title during the 1999-2000 season.
Puel favors an attractive style of soccer and is seen as keen developer of talent. Most notably, he has found success in building clubs that rely on young players and have relatively limited resources, much like the Saints.
BEST CASE: Puel picks up right where Koeman left off and gets the most out of his new signings while the veterans step up to put Southampton in a position to fight for a Champions League spot.
WORST CASE: The Saints finally fail to bounce back from the loss of leadership and talent. Long, Austin and Tadic fail to spark the attack and Southampton finish in the bottom half of the table.