After 53 matches spread out across four different competitions, it is fair to say that Southampton have had a long season.
It will be one that stays long in the memory of Saints fans for several reasons, including featuring at Wembley in a cup final and competing in the group stage of the Europa League. However, the season has now come to a close and so here is my recollection of the campaign just gone.
Let’s start with something that is unfortunately a brief comment by the end of the season – the Europa League. After working so hard to achieve straight qualification into the group stage of the competition last season, the team threw away the privilege of competing in Europe.
Puel was brought into the club partly because of his European experience and the fact that Southampton couldn’t reach the knockout stages in a group that contained sides from Israel and the Czech Republic is quite incredible. Even the Inter Milan side was in trouble and so it’s ironic that the favourites to qualify finished third and fourth.
The 3-0 win against Sparta Prague at home was memorable and pleasing but the win against Inter Milan was what us fans had waited a long time for. A legendary night at St Mary’s as multiple-time Champions League winners were beaten after taking the lead at Southampton.
Even a point against Hapoel should’ve sealed things. However, not being able to score a single goal away in Europe cost us. With multiple chances, it was unfortunate that we were playing in Europe during a poor run in the league where goals were scarce. It was expected that the team would have a go in the competition due to the club’s debut but if anything it was overall a disaster.
Another brief cup campaign was the FA Cup. I won’t go into too much detail over this as it was rather a blip at a point where other games were prioritised. A 2-2 draw away to Norwich gave the team another fixture to play but luckily the Saints came through. However, without giving any knowledge to the fans at all, Puel played a completely changed side against Arsenal at home which saw the team smashed 5-0 on the same week that they reached the League Cup final. It would be nice to see a run in this competition next season due to its great history, depending on what is going on at that point in the season.
A cup campaign that was successful was the road to Wembley in the EFL Cup. After keeping clean sheets against Crystal Palace, Sunderland, Arsenal and Liverpool home and away, Southampton managed to reach their first major cup final for 14 years. Trips to Wembley have been scarce in recent seasons so the day was very special and it was a real shame to see that hard luck costs us the trophy after a spectacular run. Starting at home to Crystal Palace, most fans weren’t expecting much as it has become a tendency over the last three seasons to lose a home cup fixture with Palace. However, a mixture of youth and senior players overcame Alan Pardew’s men with a Charlie Austin penalty and a first goal from Jake Hesketh earning a home fixture against Sunderland in the next round.
The game against Sunderland was one typical of the season with boring football and a lack of goals. Magic was needed from either side to win the game; luckily that magic was in the boots of Sofiane Boufal. The club’s record signing scored an absolute screamer which sent the team into the quarter-finals of the competition for the third successive season however, an even tougher test came up in Arsenal.
The trip to the Emirates a second time around was very special as a dominant performance earned Southampton a place in the semi-final for the third time of asking. Goals from infrequent scorers Jordy Clasie and Ryan Bertrand earned Saints a tie with Liverpool.
No one was expecting much from Southampton when Liverpool visited St Mary’s in early January in the first leg. If you said beforehand that Southampton would win the tie over two legs, few would’ve believed you. If you would’ve said that Southampton would keep another clean sheet even fewer would’ve. But if you would’ve said that Jurgen Klopp himself would go out in his press conference and say that Saints should’ve won 3-0, I would’ve bitten your hand off.
An early Nathan Redmond goal gave Southampton the advantage on aggregate but few fans thought that the slender one goal advantage would be enough to get to Wembley. Luckily, they were proved wrong as another strong defensive performance and a later counter-attack goal saw Saints clinch a first appearance at Wembley for seven years.
It felt written in the stars that Saints would win the trophy after a spectacular run but unfortunately, as we all know, a mind-blowing decision from the linesman disallowed a goal from Manolo Gabbiadini, which would’ve given Southampton the lead. This arguably cost Saints the trophy and Gabbiadini a hat-trick as Manchester United went on to win 3-2; who knows what would’ve happened if the linesman didn’t raise his flag? Albeit, it was a fantastic day out and it was satisfying to see every pundit say that we were the better team, but it was just frustrating that we couldn’t finish the job.
Finally, the Premier League campaign. After 38 games, Southampton finished in eighth place on 46 points with just 41 goals scored and 48 conceded. Eighth seems rather generous for 46 points but the more concerning fact is that Saints were closer to relegation this season than Europe, which is what was achieved the last two seasons despite finishing one place behind the European spots. That gap, however, is a staggering 17 points.
The season’s opening game was one that defined the league campaign in general. Dropped points, a lack of goals and plenty of goal-scoring opportunities wasted. A 1-1 draw with Watford at home saw Nathan Redmond get a goal on his debut for Saints and left fans wondering what could’ve been as the hosts thoroughly deserved all three points. Followed by an expected defeat at Old Trafford and an embarrassing home draw with Sunderland, only two goals had been scored and four conceded in the opening three games of the season. This didn’t get any better as Saints lost again, this time away to Arsenal. To be fair, the performance was good and they were unlucky not to get a point after a controversial penalty gave Arsenal all three points at the death.
The first win came on the fifth attempt as a narrow 1-0 at home to Swansea when Charlie Austin netted his first league goal of the season was. This was followed by one of the results of the season as Saints travelled to West Ham United’s new home and won 3-0, when it could’ve easily have been six or seven. Another clean sheet came at the home of the then-champions Leicester City but this time in a 0-0 stalemate when, yet again, all three points should’ve been taken.
Southampton made it ten from a possible 12 points with a comfortable 3-1 win at home to Burnley, despite the score being goalless at half time. In-form Charlie Austin got two and Redmond finally broke his duck. Another highlighted result was the earning of a point at Manchester City after Redmond gave Saints the lead against Pep Guardiola’s men in the first-half and eventually the spoils were shared. A defeat eventually came as newly-crowned champions Chelsea ended the Saints’ home unbeaten run that had spanned since February when the Blues had visited previously. After a slow start, the season looked to be well off the mark.
However, the league campaign slowed down as a second consecutive defeat came against struggling Hull City; this was another game in which Saints had taken the lead in but still managed to lose. Following the defeat was a lucky point at home to Liverpool who were, at the time, top-scorers and top of the league. A clean sheet against Liverpool was a good result, even though a point was taken. One of the more satisfying results of the season followed as a 1-0 home win over previous manager Ronald Koeman’s Everton in front of the Sky cameras earned Southampton a first league win in five.
Perhaps an embarrassing 3-0 defeat away to struggling Crystal Palace was the catalyst for a poor New Year period as, after a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough and another stalemate, this time with Stoke, we saw four consecutive defeats. However, an impressive display away to rivals Bournemouth earned Saints a 3-1 win with two Jay Rodrogiez goals after Ryan Bertrand’s equaliser put Saints in seventh at Christmas before the poorest run of the season.
After taking the lead in the second minute thanks to a Virgil van Dijk header, Saints conceded four at home in the league for the first time since returning to the Premier League and saw Nathan Redmond sent off against an impressive Tottenham. Just three days later, West Brom visited St Mary’s and also won, this time 2-1. Saints, like before, had taken the lead but conceded twice and saw Virgil van Dijk sent off, causing the fans to be full of discontent at the halfway mark.
A 3-0 loss away to Everton and a 1-0 loss away to Burnley marked the Saints’ worst record of the season but the consecutive defeats were ended with a comfortable 3-0 win over the champions Leicester. However, this was the day which saw Van Dijk play his final game of the season due to injury.
Saints still found finding results in the league difficult as a 2-1 loss away at Swansea and a 3-1 loss at home to West Ham saw fans start to blame the manager.
However, a 4-0 win away to Sunderland was the best way to go into the cup final and afterwards, a 4-3 win away to Watford made some fans happier.
A 2-1 defeat away to Spurs wasn’t deserved as Saints managed another positive performance. However, a stalemate with Bournemouth didn’t showcase the same levels of quality. A 3-1 win over Crystal Palace (which unfortunately saw the last league goal scored at home by Saints) and a 1-0 win at West Brom did though, before Saints were simply outclassed by a rampant Manchester City who won 3-0 at St Mary’s. This marked the start of a disappointing end of the season as Saints lost 4-2 away at Chelsea and were shocking against soon-to-be-relegated Hull in a 0-0 draw.
A lack of attacking threat but a strong defence earned the side another 0-0, this time away at Anfield but the defence wasn’t as resilient alongside a lack of attack as Arsenal won 2-0 at St.Mary’s.
This was followed by the final win of the season as goals from Rodriguez and Redmond earned Saints a win up north at already-relegated Middlesbrough before another 0-0 draw, this time with Manchester United, was followed by an awful 1-0 defeat to mid-table Stoke on the final day.
After the season, most fans are extremely unsatisfied and wish for the removal of Claude Puel. Bar the cup final and a handful of other results, Puel hasn’t impressed the fans and with boring football, I’ll be surprised if he’s manager next season.
Overall, it has been a season of new experiences but one that has also had plenty of inconsistency. Hopefully, the team are back on track next season and we can see another push for Europe!
