Apparently, it hasn’t been a disastrous season for Southampton who have finished the season in eighth place. The Saints had a couple of results going the other way in the last stretch of the Premier League otherwise it could have been a more exciting finish for them.
Everton finished just above Southampton and robbed them of a place in the Europa League although the gap between the two club was huge, a staggering 15 points. Puel took the reigns from Ronald Koeman last summer and despite having a number of difficulties, he guided the team to the EFL Cup final where they marginally lost to Manchester United.
According to reports, Puel is set to be shown the door and a number of names are doing the rounds as his replacement.
Jose Fonte left the club midway to join West Ham United and Puel had to deal with injuries to Charlie Austin and Virgil Van Dijk. The arrival of Manolo Gabbiadini has revived their season as the Saints successfully ended their season.
Let us take a look at three things the Saints should do to have a sustained Top 7 challenge next term.
Keeping Hold Of Their Players
Southampton’s academy is one of the renowned home ground for talented players since long. Players like Alan Shearer, Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Luke Shaw have started their initial careers from the South Coast.
But year after year, they have failed to grind out positive results due to their failure of keeping their players at the club for a longer time. Clubs across the world have raided the Saints to hijack potential players which has harmed the club’s development. There has been no shortage of money and the Saints will no longer need to sell their players to cash in. So they have to try to maintain a status quo on their players so that they can build a great squad for the long term.
Infusion Of New Talents
Southampton have had their problems throughout the season. If they hadn’t bought Gabbiadini from Napoli they would have been submerged in deep danger. Goals have been a problem for the Saints. If Puel remains the coach he needs to ensure that they sign at least a prolific striker to share the responsibility with Gabbiadini.
Picking Up A Consistent Set Up
The main problem has been with Puel with was that he tried too many things and didn’t stick to a single plan. He almost rotated his squad in every other game and the players must have been confused about their roles. Assuming that Puel will leave the club, whoever becomes the next coach should try to introduce a core team throughout the season.
