Southampton 2016-17 season preview

Southampton 2016-17 season preview

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On the back of the club’s best ever Premier League finish in 2015-16, Southampton will be looking to secure their place as European football contenders.

With a new coach and a few new additions to the squad, the St. Mary’s team will be hopeful of continuing in the rich vein of form that he seen them finish eighth in 2013-14, seventh in 2014-15 and finally sixth in 2015-16.

Offseason Recruitment

New manager Claude Puel has not really grabbed headlines with his signings, but has been able to bring in a number of solid recruits to bolster his lineup. Alex McCarthy is a goalkeeper with some Premier League experience who will serve as good backup for Fraser Forster.

Danish midfielder Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg, joining from Bayern Munich, offers replacement to Victor Wanyama – though is perhaps not as physically assertive as the Kenyan – and at 21-years-old has a bright future. Nathan Redmond and Jérémy Pied, signing from Norwich City and OGC Nice (Puel’s former club) respectively, provide depth out wide in the absence of Sadio Mané, with the Frenchman operating more as a fullback in recent times.

The only departure not addressed has been that of Shandong Luneng bound Graziano Pellè, though possibly the French manager will look to one of, or a combination of Charlie Austin, Shane Long and Jay Rodríguez to lead his line. Perhaps Sam Gallagher could see some top-flight game time also.

Strengths

It is difficult to put a finger on the source behind Southampton’s success in recent years, with nothing relatively special on the team sheet and no real appearance of tactical genius behind their play. They have, however, consistently managed to get the most out the squad and regularly outperform expectations.

Looking towards the upcoming campaign it appears as though the Saints have, as they have so often, been able to cover the losses of the star players who have parted ways over the offseason – leaving the team on paper as strong as it was last term. A solid midfield core, that will likely feature the likes of Oriol Romeu, Jordy Clasie and Höjbjerg with Steven Davis and James Ward-Prowse sitting higher up the park, leaves the centre of the Saints’ setup looking very promising.

Weaknesses

As we saw as the beginning of the last campaign, Southampton’s performances in the league suffered during their Europa League commitments. Similar pressures may affect them again this time around, with the continental showing surely a target for improvement after an underwhelming first appearance.

The South Coast club have made an art of bringing in less prolific names to replace their outgoing stars with an impressive level of success. This practice, though through necessity offers a serious degree of risk, with the team relying on new players to fill the gaps of some of the previous season’s best performers.

Key Player – Virgil van Dijk

The decision is a tossup between the centre-half and Charlie Austin leading the line, but as we saw so often in 2015-16 van Dijk can prove to be the difference in games. Arriving from Celtic towards the end of the offseason window last year, the Dutch international added great strength to a shaky looking backline.

The form of central-defensive partner and club captain José Fonte was inconsistent at best, with van Dijk often being relied upon to hold the defence together. On top of this the 25-year-old has a surprising level of talent on the ball despite his towering frame, showing off his dribbling and shooting on several occasions. During the last campaign the centre-back managed to grab three goals for his team, all from set plays.

Prediction – 7th

With a new manager and new faces in key positions it is a little difficult to determine how this Southampton outfit will play and perform in 2016-17, though they seem to have kept what at least looks a strong team on paper. It would be hard to bet against the South Coast club somehow reinventing itself despite the losses of some big name players and offering up good performance again in the upcoming season.

Ultimately this list may not quite be up to the standard of those who broke records for the club in terms of points tally and finishing position with a lot of high quality talent bolstering teams in the top end. The Saints will still have a strong campaign, but will likely lose a few places in 2016-17 to finish seventh or eighth.

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