2017-18 fan season preview: Southampton
By Stu Howden.
What are your feelings ahead of the new season?
I have mixed feelings about the new season. We’re not going to be involved in a relegation scrap, but equally I can’t see us fighting it out for a European place. I think we’ll play more attacking, attractive football under Mauricio Pellegrino but will likely only finish mid-table at best. Eighth place last year covered up some really dour, boring possession football under Puel and though we finished eighth, we were 17 points worse off than the previous season and only six points above the team in 17th. I’m glad we’ve managed to keep hold of most of the first-team squad and think Pellegrino will get more out them than Puel did, but there has been a lack of new players to get excited about. Unless we pull out all the stops in the cup competitions, it could be a season of mediocrity for us this year.
How pleased have you been with your transfer business to date?
Underwhelmed would be the best way to describe it. A couple of squad players have left and we have brought in Jan Bednarek. He looks like a centre-back with potential but isn’t ready for the Premier League yet. Not selling Van Dijk would be the best bit of business we can do, but regardless of whether he is sold or not we still need another centre-back (possibly two) and another striker. Squad looks a bit light and lacking depth.
How is your team likely to line up?
Forster
Cedric
Yoshida
Stephens
Bertrand
Redmond
Lemina
Romeu
Boufal
Ward-Prowse
Gabbiadini
Who will be your most important player?
If you ignore Van Dijk (as I’m expecting him to leave, hopefully not) then Oriol Romeu is our most important player. He can do pretty much do it all – pass, tackle, get box-to-box and he is technically excellent either dribbling or taking dead ball situations. In the games he was out, we looked significantly weaker. He’s a midfield general who’ll be the leader on the field for us in the absence of our current captain.
Who is the unsung hero in your squad?
Maya Yoshida. He was the back-up centre-back at the beginning of last season, but when needed he stepped in for first Jose Fonte and then for Virgil Van Dijk and didn’t look out of place. He really seemed to step up a gear and was a fantastic nurturing influence on young Jack Stephens, who came in to replace the injured Van Dijk. He did a good job in difficult circumstances and received very little credit or recognition outside of Southampton. He will be a key part of the team this year too – though no-one will mention him.
What do you expect from Liverpool this season?
Liverpool met my expectations last season with a top-four finish, but I think they’ll struggle to finish in the top four this year. Man City and Man Utd have made big moves in the transfer market and both look much stronger than last year, Chelsea and Tottenham also look strong. Liverpool don’t really look like they have strengthened since last year so unless Liverpool make some more significant additions to their team, I can only see them finishing fifth or sixth. Conversely, I think the Liverpool squad is well suited to Europe and I can see them reaching the Champions League quarter-final stage.
If you could have one Liverpool player in your team, who would it be?
Sadio Mane – we’ve never replaced him properly and he’d be brilliant alongside Gabbiadini.
Top four (in order)?
Man Utd
Man City
Tottenham
Chelsea
Relegated?
Huddersfield
Brighton
Watford
Surprise package?
Everton – looked decent last year and have made some good signings so far this year – could easily be pushing for fifth place this year.
What is your biggest wish for the season?
Two things:
Keep hold of Virgil Van Dijk and re-integrate him into the first team. The team simply isn’t as good without his quality, reliability and captaincy.
Take the FA Cup more seriously; we put our reserves out last year. It’s a major trophy and realistically will be the biggest thing we could win next year.