Southampton Continues To Surprise
Written by: Alexander Dodd
Last Saturday, Southampton F.C. soundly defeated Sunderland 8-0 at St. Mary’s Park in what was arguably the most impressive showing in the Premier League so far this season. Currently, the Saints are third in the standings and sport an impressive 19 goals in eight games, second only to Chelsea.
Surprisingly, such a successful opening to the season was hardly expected by the Southampton faithful, even with having finished eighth last season, their best Premier League finish in club history.
Pessimism towards the club began last May when newly appointed chairman and former Edmonton Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger had his then-manager Mauricio Pochettino decamp to Tottenham with his managerial team. Krueger then hired the highly-regarded Feyenoord manager Ronald Koeman in June kicking off a summer of substantial roster upheaval. The offseason was headlined by the sales of key players Rickie Lambert, Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers to the south coast while Koeman brought in 13 new players.
Despite the massive roster turnover and fan’s concerns, the early results have been astounding: newly signed Italian striker Graziano Pelle is currently tied for third in league scoring, Serbian midfielder Dusan Tadic was recently named whoscored.com’s European player of the week after his five-point effort on Saturday, and Koeman secured manager of the month honours for September.
The Saints look to continue their inspired start on October 25 at Stoke City in the 4th round of the Capital One Cup. They secured their spot after defeating Arsenal at Emirates Stadium 2-1 on September 23.
Alexander is a recent history graduate from the University of Alberta. He was a member of the 2006 National Canadian Club Soccer Champion Runner-Up and 2008 National Canadian Club Soccer Champion teams. He expanded his fandom of Bayern Munich after living in Germany during their 2013 Champions League victory.
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