Southampton might not have the luxury to operate with the strongest of financial muscles as compared to the other heavyweights in the Premier League but they do have an unparalleled charm of their own.
At the end of every season, we are accustomed to seeing the highly performing assets of the St. Mary’s based club leave for lucre or silverwares but what intrigues the football fraternity is the manner in which they continue to perform on a consistent basis without lamenting the loss of their stars.
With a 1-0 away win at the Hawthorns on Saturday, Claude Puel’s men outclassed West Bromwich Albion in what was a nail-biting fixture. Owing to their win, the Saints are now placed 9th on the Premier League table with 40 points from 30 outings and are well and truly on course to dethrone Tony Pulis’ men from the 8th spot.
The Baggies might be 4 points ahead at this point of time but let’s not forget that Southampton have a couple of games in hand as well.
In their latest victory, it was Jordy Clasie’s 25th-minute goal which eventually proved to be the difference between these two outfits. Clasie broke his duck and finally scored his first goal in English top flight, and quite deservingly so.
At the onset, the short-framed midfielder might not resemble as a player capable of withstanding the animosity which the Premier League has to offer but then, focusing merely on a player’s appearance can be very deceiving more often than not.
Clasie has been engineered in the central midfield role and has really thrived this season every time he has been handed the opportunity to ply his trade on the pitch. In 15 Premier League appearances, the Dutch international has bagged 1 goal, registered 1 assist and has registered a sensational pass completion rate of 90.5%.
Moreover, he has made 1.1 tackles, 1 interception, 0.5 clearance and 0.1 blocks per game on an average and has really found his feet on the English soil this term.
The 25-year-old does have the technical soundness, cushions the backline meticulously, is shrewd in picking up the right passes and toils relentlessly throughout the pitch to knit a fine sync between the attacking and defensive endeavours of the side.
Clasie gets into tight areas and makes perfectly timed tackles, has a commendable work ethic and without any shadow of a doubt, Puel should really hand him adequate opportunities to better himself week in and week out.
Statistics Credits: WhoScored.com
