#5 Southampton have a mountain to climb to replicate their performances of last season
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Often, a pre match show featuring Southampton raises the same question that has plagued the club for years now, When will Southampton find a way to retain their best players from the season? The departures of Sadio Mane, Graziano Pelle and Victor Wanyama has left the side depleted and their performance against Manchester United would have been a wakeup call for Claude Puel, one which has come early in the season.
They lacked the bite in the final third of the pitch and their chances of replicating their performances of last season will largely depend on their ability to find the back often, obviously sans the services of Pelle and Mane, the club’s leading goal scorers in the league last season.
The side created a higher number of chances, had a higher number of attempts and floated in dangerous crosses into the box at regular intervals. Nevertheless, they did not have anything to show for the same at the end of the game and this could be a regular feature of the side’s current campaign, if they do not add a proven goal scorer to their ranks.
The new comers at the club will take time to settle down in new surroundings and it is up to the established brigade at the club to ensure performance week after week. Should the influential defender and club captain Just Fonte decide to jump the ship before the transfer window closes, the side could kiss its aspirations for the current season goodbye.
