Pre-Season Discussion: A Look Ahead to the Future: Southampton

New boys Southampton looked in trouble for the early parts of the campaign under the naive management of Nigel Adkins where they were too expansive rather than compact and ended up losing crucial points at the start of the season. Nigel Adkins did realize his mistake and started to make the team more rigid and compact but still the effects were not showing; he, unfortunately, was sacked and in came Mauricio Pochettino who instilled the mentality required by the Saints to stay in the premiership; they won crucial games and ensure their safety and a decent 14th place finish. We now take a look at what is in store for the Saints in the coming season.

Season 2012/13

• Southampton won just 9 games; lost 15 and drew 14, only Stoke City drew more games than the Saints (15).
• Rickie Lambert was top-scorer with 15 goals.
• Morgan Schniederlin was awarded player of the season award.
• Biggest win was a 4-1 victory over Aston Villa at home.

Transfers

Signings

Dejan Lovren (Lyon), Victor Wanyama (Celtic)

Departures:

Frazer Richardson, Danny Butterfield, Dan SeaBorne, Ryan Dickson, Ben Reeves, Sam Hoskins, Richard Chaplow, Vegard Forren, Steve De Ridder.

As we can see almost all the fringe players have been shipped out by Pochettino and two decent and compact players have been brought in; Dejan Lovren is a Center-Back who will bring about lot more stability to the weak Saints defense while Victor Wanyama will be bring calm and composure to the center of midfield; another area which desperately required reinforcement.

Man to Watch

Rickie Lambert

Having scored his first international goal for England just earlier; Rickie Lambert will know that if he gets a good season in he might be on his way to Brazil playing for England at the World Cup. The guy is not only good in the air but is also technically better than any other proper CF England have at the moment; not counting Rooney, Welbeck and Sturridge as out and out CFs. He scored goals; important goals for Southampton and he would like to keep the trend going. 

Verdict

.

Second-Half of Table: 13th

An improvement is guaranteed as both Pochettino and the signings he has made bring about lot more assurance to the side than the expansive style of Adkins. If the start of the campaign is better than the previous one then Saints have all chance to finish a satisfying 13th. They can even knock at the top-half of the table if Rickie Lambert starts to think about Brazil seriously.