1. Money Well Spent
It looks like the transfer window has served Southampton well once again on the evidence of the season opener at St. Mary’s. Four out of the six players brought in so far this summer got game time with Cedric at right-back arguably the pick of the bunch.
You would have been forgiven for not noticing Nathaniel Clyne’s absence as the former Sporting Lisbon full-back fitted in seamlessly behind Dusan Tadic down the right hand side.
Jordy Clasie went off injured early in the second half but looked solid in front of the Saints’ back four and alongside man mountain Victor Wanyama.
Clasie was replaced by Juanmi who was quiet on his debut for the club as Southampton’s grip on the ball loosened in the latter stages but the midfielder showed Saints fans a glimpse of what might be to come, providing a sumptuous assist for Shane Long and Southampton’s third.
Maarten Steklenburg didn’t have much to do for much of the match but, when called upon, drew on years of experience to deprive Danilo Pantic from grabbing an important away goal at 2-0.
2. The Mane Man?
Sadio Mane could be the key man for Southampton this season. He was one of the Saints’ top performers despite not getting on the scoresheet.
The Senegal international provided the perfect link between midfield and attack during the first half especially, and provided the assist for Graziano Pelle’s rasping opening goal and won the penalty on the stroke of half time.
He was at the centre of much of what Southampton did and Saints were a lesser side when he was moved out wide in the second half.
3. You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
Despite the score line and the comfortable nature of the victory, this was not Southampton at their best. Ronald Koeman’s side tired in the second half as a lack of competitive football showed as the tempo dropped dramtically.
Even at 2-0 up it was evident that many of Southampton’s experienced players wanted more; Jose Fonte and Graziano Pelle were both visibly frustrated by elements of the home side’s performance.
Rustiness was evident and the second half was more of a slog than a showcase leaving Koeman and his staff exasperated to say the least.
4. The Weak Link?
Yoshida has been at the club since 2012 and has pretty much always played second fiddle to another centre-half; Lovren, Fonte and Alderweireld all above him in the pecking order during their time at the club. This looks set to continue after Ronald Koeman announced to sign one, if not two new centre halves after last week’s friendly against Feyenoord.
Steven Caulker’s arrival on loan does nothing but reinforce the view that Koeman does not see Yoshida as part of a first-choice pairing.
And without wishing to be too harsh on the Japanese international, it’s hard not to see why. Yoshida was good in the most part as he had little to do but was caught out a couple of times – most notably five minutes into the tie as he let Valeri Kazaishvili in behind. It would have been a very different game if Kazaishvili’s had been placed just inside Steklenburg’s post rather than centimetres wide of it.7
5. Graziano Pelle can kick a ball very, very hard.
The loud thud of boot meeting ball is still reverberating around St. Mary’s, glasses in local bars shattered because of the sheer force of giant striker’s thunderbolt. The hulking Italian exorcised any in-front-of-goal demons left over from last season as he unleashed an absolute howitzer in front of the Northam End.
Eloy Room, in the Vitesse goal, did well to get out of the way of this effort which put Southampton 1-0 up and set them on the path to victory.
