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20 teams in 20 days – Southampton

By on August 11, 2014

Manager: Ronald Krueger
Stadium: St. Mary’s Stadium
Nickname: The Saints
Finish Last Season: 8th

What’s new at Southampton this summer? Everything. New manager, a new chairman was brought in late last season, and a drastically changed squad that will kick off their campaign this season will hardly resemble the one that finished eighth in the Premier League last season. Even their kit designer – the club left Adidas and decided to start designing and producing their kits in-house. But most importantly, changed aspirations. Since Southampton was bought by new owners in 2009 it has been all about improvement, going upwards. Bringing up youth talent from their famed academy, investing in young stars, and cycling out the old. Well, every season since they have improved their standing in the English football league system. In just three seasons they went from a third tier club to one mixing it up with the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, in the Premier League, nearly finishing ahead of Manchester United. But now, it is just to hold on to their position in the top flight. Next season, the biggest thing the club have to look forward to is honestly whatever’s left at the end of the summer.

Just imagine being James Ward-Prowse, or Nathaniel Clyne, two of Southampton’s few remaining starlets. Clyne, a maturing left-back, and Ward-Prowse, a bright young teenager, have witnessed nearly all of the Saints’ talent from last season exit for bigger clubs. Of the £105.19 million the club has made this summer only a little more than £35m has been reinvested in the squad. Around them, more than a third of Southampton’s starting lineup in their last competitive match have now been picked off. Hardly even a few days after the 2013/2014 season is finished Luke Shaw joined Manchester United for upwards of £30 million. Rickie Lambert was then picked off by Liverpool, who came back for more soon afterwards and picked up the dressing room’s most consistent and arguably most valuable player last season in Adam Lallana. Dejan Lovren, a starting center-back, soon followed Lambert and Lallana’s lead. Calum Chambers, another teenage full-back and potential long term replacement for Lovren, then moved off to Arsenal, while Pablo Osvaldo has been loaned off to Italy. And all the while Mauricio Pochettino, who guided the club to their highest ever finish in the Premier League, has been gone after going to Tottenham Hotspur. Would you, put in their position want to stay at the club? It is likely that there are many suitors in the two, and eventually you would probably move on anyway, especially if Southampton begin to go downhill. Right now it must be an appealing opportunity for the club’s remaining talent to desert the sinking ship.

What’s left the club will have to work hard to keep, and even so it may not be enough to keep them up from the relegation zone. Their top scorer last season, Jay Rodriguez, is still at St. Mary’s, but will he be able to perform like he did last season without Lambert or Lallana alongside him up front? Jose Fonte is still their to prove order at the back, yet the gaping hole Lovren left in the starting eleven has yet to be patched. In midfield the club are still relatively solid with Morgan Schneiderlin, Victor Wanyama, Ward-Prowse, Steven Davis, and Gaston Ramirez all staying, while winger Dusan Tadic joined from FC Twente in new manager Ronald Koeman’s most expensive signing this summer. Up front there is also a hole, and Graziano Pelle on loan from Holland has been Krueger’s only answer. Plus, Rodriguez found himself injured this summer and will be missing for the first four months of the season. Their one very solid position is in goal, where they have both Fraser Forster and Artur Boruc.

It is by far a squad that will end up at the bottom of the table, yet relegation is a worry next season for Southampton. With a few more signings a mid-table finish is likely, and all signs are that they are not done spending this summer. So far, the money has been reinvested in cheaper but still quality players like Tadic, a creative winger and attacking midfielder. Slowly. Southampton fans may be disappointed but it was always likely that their squad would get picked apart after last season. And now they are almost turning into an Everton-like team with their new signings, and may in the future slowly creep towards European positions. Once they patch a few more holes and bring in stability, then they are likely to be a consistent mid-table presence. With Koeman in charge, they will also have a man who loves to develop their remaining young stars. Pochettino’s free-flowing passing game Southampton played with last season is also similar to that of Koeman’s teams, so not much will change tactically. For now their worry is to stay up, but long term it should still be Southampton’s ambition to target European play.

Full Fixture List:
August 16: Liverpool (A)
August 23: West Brom (H)
August 30: West Ham (A)
September 13: Newcastle United (H)
September 20: Swansea City (A)
September 27: Queens Park Rangers (H)
October 4: Tottenham Hotspur (A)
October 18: Sunderland (H)
October 25: Stoke City (H)
November 1: Hull City (A)
November 8: Leicester City (H)
November 22: Aston Villa (A)
November 29: Manchester City (H)
December 2: Arsenal (A)
December 6: Manchester United (H)
December 13: Burnley (A)
December 20: Everton (H)
December 26: Crystal Palace (A)
December 28: Chelsea (H)
January 1: Arsenal (H)
January 10: Manchester United (A)
January 17: Newcastle United (A)
January 31: Swansea City (H)
February 7: Queens Park Rangers (A)
February 10: West Ham (H)
February 21: Liverpool (H)
February 28: West Brom (A)
March 3: Crystal Palace (H)
March 14: Chelsea (A)
March 21: Burnley (H)
April 4: Everton (A)
April 11: Hull City (H)
April 18: Stoke City (A)
April 25: Tottenham Hotspur (H)
May 2: Sunderland (A)
May 9: Leicester City (A)
May 16: Aston Villa (H)
May 24: Manchester City (A)

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.