Recruitment
After Mauricio Pochettino’s departure for Tottenham in the summer of 2014, Koeman took the job on the South Coast where things were looking up for the club after an eighth-placed finish and their highest points tally in their Premier League history. However, optimism soon turned to concern as opposition clubs sensed a fire sale at St. Mary’s after Pochettino’s departure.
Liverpool started the ambush by ripping the spine out of the side, taking key players Rickie Lambert, captain Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren. Also following through the exit door was academy graduate Luke Shaw who departed for Manchester United to fill the gap at left-back vacated by Patrice Evra. Adding to the Dutchman’s woes was that England international striker Jay Rodriguez would miss the entire season as he recovered from an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury, suffered in the latter stages of the Pochettino reign.
Saints were widely tipped for relegation – rock bottom 20th to be exact and even this mad Saints fan was feeling a bit uneasy. The humorous memes about the looting going on at St. Mary’s came thick and fast courtesy of social media and even Koeman was able to poke fun at the exodus in the face of adversity, whether intentional or not. Prior to training one morning, the gaffer posted a picture to social media of an empty training ground with a caption ‘Ready for training!’ which the world found rather amusing. Thinking outside the square, perhaps this was Koeman’s way of thumbing his nose at the naysayers in an ‘I got this’ kind of way. The Dutchman did have this, and how.
Ready for #Training! pic.twitter.com/o4N7ACbOFs
— Ronald Koeman (@RonaldKoeman) July 28, 2014
In his first season in charge, the former Feyenoord boss brought in striker Graziano Pelle from Feyenoord, Sadio Mane from Red Bull Salzburg, Fraser Forster from Celtic, Ryan Bertrand from Chelsea initially on loan, Shane Long from Hull and Dusan Tadic from Twente. Although some of these names were unknowns before Saints’ opening game of the season at Anfield in 2014-15, these six not only fitted in seamlessly, but formed a large part of the new nucleus going forward. As a result, the red and white stripes went one better than the Pochettino era and finished with a club record 60 points in seventh place while earning a play-off spot in the Europa League – which leads into this season’s disappointing start.
After a shaky 2-2 draw at Newcastle on the opening weekend and a 3-0 home thumping by Everton the week after, Southampton were dumped out of Europa League qualifying over two legs by Danish side FC Midtjylland and the cynics were back.
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That was enough for Koeman to rectify the situation and sign long-term target Virgil van Dijk from Celtic to partner captain Jose Fonte in defence to add another set-piece threat as well as shoring up the defence. From there, it seems things turned around immediately. Three clean sheets in four matches followed, then a 2-2 draw with the Foxes where the pair scored from corners, followed by a pair of 3-1 victories against Swansea at home and then against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. On a day where a 3-1 defeat flattered the Blues, the thumping of the reigning champions was the first for Saints against them in West London for the first time since a James Beattie-inspired 4-2 victory on New Year’s Day in 2002.
Koeman also signed Cedric Soares prior to season kick off as a like for like replacement for Nathaniel Clyne who also departed for Anfield, Oriol Romeu to anchor the midfield to plug the gap left by Old Trafford bound Morgan Schneiderlin and also recently added Charlie Austin, who would prove to be the match-winner as a substitute against Manchester United shortly after signing for the club. The gamble to sign Austin, then to bring the former QPR striker on when the game was on a knife edge, proved that not only is Koeman shrewd in the market, but also a sharp tactician.
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