The difference between how Saints approached their Europa League campaign compared to the Hammers , is like night and day, Ronald Koeman took it very seriously and named his strongest available starting eleven for both games and after a 3-0 home win and 2-0 road victory over Vittesse Arnheim, his team take some real momentum and cohesion into their season opener. Ahead of the first of those two european games I wrote .......
Hosts will surely be treating this very seriously, it is only their second European tie in three decades and also the second ever played at St Mary's Stadium. They played three pre season games against Dutch opposition and we discussed the first of those, a trip to Groningen ........
I did feel that Southampton would be up for the trip to Groningen which is Ronald Koeman's first club and "home town" according to him, especially as they lost to Valencia and Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, they will surely be looking for a result now with four weeks of pre season under their belt and apparently, ahead in terms of preparation compared to last season, given that they have a Europa League game in 12 days time and against Dutch opposition. Hosts will be without several players, including Tjaronn Chery (ever present and 15 goals and six assists last season in a team which only scored 49 goals) who looks on his way to QPR and this is a match the Saints would probably win if they really wanted to.
Saints won that 3-0, then beat KVV Quick 10-0 and Feyenoord, where Saints boss Koeman ended his playing career and was coach before moving to the EPL, 3-0. Feyenoord finished above Vitesse last season, Groningen had almost an identical home record to the team from Arnhein in Eredivisie and the English side will have a very good idea of what to expect this evening and their prep seems ideal. Koeman will once again be facing another former team and one he will know very well.
Vitesse have lost at this stage the only two times they have previously qualified for the Europa League and have no real history of success in Europe, the same is true of Southampton of course, but the hosts are now not only an established EPl side, but one who competed for a Champions League spot last season and one with a conveyor belt of talent produced by their fine Academy, but who are also able to spend money on some of the better young European talent, signing Jordy Clasie ( Netherlands), Cedric Soares (Portugal) and Juanmi (Spain) this summer, who despite their youth, are alreadyall full internationals. Last summer they sold £100m worth of talent, yet not only remained competitive , but thrived and have a clear blueprint for success, which many teams are looking to emulate. They also feel like they are getting a new major signing with the return to fitness of England International Jay Rodriguez who missed all of last season, but who has recently signed a new four year contract, is already amongst the goals in pre season and is likely to start tonight.
Saints probably have a dozen players worth 10m + € , the sale of any of two of which would equate to the value of the entire Vitesse squad and whilst football is rarely that simple, it does illustrate the gulf in class and how far the home side have come in such a short time, having competed in League 1 in 2011, but they have reaped the benefits of long term planning and investment. The match is a sell out, which is tremendous for this time of year with so many people on vacation and indicates the level of interest in the competition and Saints feel they are very close to 100% in terms of fitness and that this match is the next step up in their evolution as a club, Koeman has targeted the win and believes that Vitesse will give his team a test, but also the space to play and not to shut up shop and defend. 3-0 Saints.
I got the correct score right, only just noticed that !
It is hard to see the Saints repeating their start to last season, when, after selling £100m + worth of talent and being heavily tipped up to struggle, they were still in Champions League contention entering March, but it is not impossible and that is the business model at St Mary's, buy low, sell high, invest in the Academy and overseas talent and continually upgrade, now in Saints terms buying low is £5-£10m and they have a wonderful blueprint for success and are much admired across the footballing world and rightly so. However, we are not sure how the losses of Nathaniel Clyne and Morgan Schneiderlin will really affect them against EPL quality opposition.
United have invested heaving in the summer with new boss Steve McClaren signing Chancel Mbemba, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Georgino Wijnaldum, names which will roll off Geordie tongues (!) signed for circa 50m €. The former England coach will be desperate to hit the ground running and erase all thoughts of that disasterous finish to last season, which saw the Magpies collect just 10 points from 18 starts in 2015, before a final day win over West Ham United which confirmed their safety. That was scary and not just the results , but the level of performance, which was simply unacceptable. Big job for McClaren, but he is up to the task and I expect an upbeat showing from the Magpies today, however, whether that will be enough to beat the Saints is open to question and the visitors have scored ten goals in the last three meetings and 15 in the last six. Feel that we will see both on the scoresheet today , which has been the case in the last three meetings here in the North East and I rate the best value by far as .........
Good Luck.
