Over the past three years, Southampton have been basking in success in the Premier League and other domestic competitions. The board have been very shrewd in their managerial appointments and player purchases.
But now after another summer of big name exits and the loss of yet another manager, Southampton made the bold decision of appointing Claude Puel; a man with no experience outside of the French league. So far the style of play that Puel has bought to the table seems to be working well. However, are the cracks starting to show?
The goals have started to dry up with an extremely poor shot conversion of 9.16%, with Charlie Austin seeming to be the only one capable of putting the ball in the back of the net. Look where we were around this time last season compared to this season. This is mostly due to the lack of goals being scored by the team.
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Over the past three seasons, Southampton have sold their star players and have replaced them with players of equal or better quality for a fraction of the price. This has been successful for the past three years up until now.
This summer. Southampton lost another series of key players which included the likes of Sadio Mane, Graziano Pelle and Victor Wanyama, who were sold for around £36 million, £13 million and £12 million respectively. These players were replaced this summer by Nathan Redmond and Sofiane Boufal for £10 million and £16 million respectively. This time however, not all of the players were replaced. We did not sign another striker within the summer transfer window which I believe was a huge mistake.
So yet after another season of selling and yet another managerial appointment, are the cracks in Southampton’s master plan starting to show? Yes, I believe that Claude Puel is a shrewd appointment but did the change come at the right time?
When Puel was appointed, he threw out the 4-2-3-1 system that guided us to sixth place in the Premier League under Ronald Koeman and replaced it with a diamond formation. Yes, I do believe that the players have gotten used to the new system but do we have the right squad of players to execute this new system whom have been used to a certain style of play for so long now? I believe that this issue is showing in the results that the club are churning out.
The January transfer window is almost here and I would like to see the club strengthen the squad and get our push up the table well underway. But only time will tell what Saints will do in the market and only time will tell if Southampton’s recipe for success finally shatters.
