Cracking the top 4

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Koeman turns down Holland job​

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Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has today turned down the chance to manage his national team, stating that he is committed to the project that is ongoing at St Mary's and will see out his contract with the club.

Koeman, 52, joined the saints last summer and guided them to a best ever Premier League finish of 7th place and successfully qualified for the Europa League which will see Southampton play in Europe for the first time since 2003. "I am very happy and committed in my current role" Koeman was quoted as saying "Holland had the chance to appoint me when I left Feyenoord and instead they chose to go with Hiddink which is fair enough, but they missed their chance. I will see out my contract."

The Dutch national team have been in terrible form, winning just 3 of their last 6 games making them extremely vulnerable to not qualifying for the 2016 European Championships. This form has ultimately led to questions being asked of Holland manager Danny Blind and has led to names such as Koemans being nominated as a possible replacement.

Southampton Director of Football Les Reed claimed that Koeman's decision was a victory for the South coast club. "Ronald has been Fantastic ever since he arrived at the club and we feel that we can continue to grow under his leadership."

[video=youtube;UDO4m76x_kI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDO4m76x_kI[/video]​
 
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So I was staying at Southampton Football Club. It had been one of the hardest decisions of my life to turn down a chance to manage my country but I was confident it was the right thing to do. I had a contract with the club, and I was going to honour it. Tomorrow signalled the return to work for both myself and the squad after our summer holidays and it was going to be a massive season! European football back on the South Coast, expectations sky high from both the media and our supporters and yet more key players gone in the form of Morgan Schneiderlin and Nathaniel Clyne. The club had bought well so far with acquisitions in the mould of Jordy Clasie, Cedric, Oriol Romeu and Marteen Stekelenburg but something tells me my work is not yet done.
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I arrived early at our luxurious Staplewood training complex the next morning and went straight into a meeting with our owner Katharina Liebherr, our Chairman Ralph Krueger and our Director of Football Les Reed.

Katharina Liebherr - "Ronald, I am so happy that you have decided to stay with us. I just wanted to let you know that my backing for my fathers club is still absolute. Any profits made by the football club will be directed straight back into the facilities and transfer budget."

Les Reed - "As you know we have been extremely busy over the summer, buying and selling and we have managed to secure some of your top transfer targets. What we need you to do is take the next few days to evaluate your options.. look at some of our academy players and then we will decide how the squad needs shaping further."

Ralph Krueger - "We have already spent a considerable amount of money but thanks to the size of the deals we have received for some of the players we have sold we do have some left in reserve, £10 million is at your disposal should you need to use it."

Les Reed - "We do have to be cautious though.. 'Financial unfair play' could be our undoing so we dont have much wiggle room in the wage budget, only £50k a week or so, but that should be enough to get something done!"

Me - "Thankyou, I will get to work straight away, we cant afford to be complacent this season, we have to keep pushing forwards if we are going to realise the potential that is here at the club."
 
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It was now time to take an in depth look at how the club was operating and what could be improved. I was not willing to settle for mediocrity here at the club and everything that could be improved was going to be improved.

Playing Squad

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The first and most obvious area of the club to scrutinise was the players.


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Goalkeepers - Fraser Forster is our clear #1 choice in this position but his injury at the end of last season will see him miss the majority of this one with his torn knee ligaments keeping him out of action for 10-11 months. Maarten Stekelenburg has been brought in on loan from Fulham and will be a great keeper while Fraser is out. The ageing Kelvin Davis and young Paulo Gazzaniga are more than adequate back up.

Central Defence - Our defence was rock solid last season as we impressed fellow clubs and pundits alike. Captain fantastic, Jose Fonte is the rock in the hear of our defence and new signing Virgil Van Dijk is likely to be his partner. Maya Yoshida is a capable defender and the loan signing of Steven Caulker is great cover. Florin Gardos is injured for the next 6-7 months so is unlikely to feature properly this season.

Full Backs - A strong area of the squad with Ryan Bertrand and Cedric hoping to hold down the left and right full back slots. Young Matt Targett is a lad with a bright future and will deputise while Bertrand takes the 2-3 months required to recover from his injury, while new signing Cuco Martina adds depth to the right side of defence.

Central Midfield - Morgan Schneiderlins loss will be felt very keenly in the centre of the park but Jordy Clasie has the potential to be a terrific signing and will try to replace Morgan. Victor Wanyama adds physical power and is one of the finest destroyers in the league, add that to the experience of Steven Davis and the potential of Oriol Romeu and James Ward-Prowse and this could be a battleground for starting places.

Attacking Midfield - An area of the squad that is dripping with talent. Both Dusan Tadic and Sadio Mane had superb first seasons at the club and are the likely leaders for starting spots on the wings. Jay Rodriguez returning from 18 months injured feels like a new signing and Gaston Ramirez returning from a loan move to Hull will add depth. The signing of Juanmi is an interesting one and it will be fascinating to see how he develops.

Strikers - Graziano Pelle. The Italian Stalion. The Milan Miracle. He is absolutely our main threat up front with his superb link up play and strength making him a great target man should we feel the need to go long. Shane Long has bundles of experience and knows how to score a goal and Jay Rodriguez is also an option to play up top.
Youth Squad

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The famous Southampton Academy is still churning out talented youngsters. Look out for the likes of Harrison Reed, Jason McCarthy and Jake Hesketh bothering the first time while talents such as Sam Gallagher, Jack Stephens and Jordan Turnbull can all do a job when they return from their loans.
Staff​

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Our staffing team at St Marys is certainly very good but there is room for improvement and we will look to take immediate action in getting them to the highest level possible. If we want to attract the best players to Southampton then we are going to need to be at the top of our game.
Facilities​

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The facilities at the club are top notch but once again we cannot get complacent. We need to push to improve at every possible opportunity and I will be harassing the board whenever I am presented with the chance to.

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Our home, St Marys stadium

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Our brand new, state of the art, top of the line, Staplewood training facilities.
Finance​

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With a bank balance of over £70 million, and projected profits for this season and the next, the club is in an extremely healthy position and we must endeavour to keep it that way.
 
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Great start mate, will have to keep an eye on this one.
 
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[video=youtube;Fxpq0e_jvMA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxpq0e_jvMA[/video]

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As the lads returned from their holidays our attention turned to pre-season. This is an area of our preparation that we got spot on last year and will need to do so again this season if we are to get off to that perfect start.

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We carefully selected a run of fixtures that would be challenging for the players, good preparation for Europe and enjoyable for the fans and I think we managed to achieve that. Visits from big European Sides like Basel, Sevilla and Hannover are going to be wonderful nights at St Marys and away trips to Leeds and Leyton Orient will test the lads metal. All eyes are obviously on the two unknown fixtures that are the home and away legs for the Europa League 3rd qualifying round and represent our return to Europe.
I Called all the lads into the changing room and sat them down to discuss the upcoming season.

Me - "Lads, I think it is time that we all fulfilled our potential eh? we had a brilliant season last time out.. we will be playing European football.. we will hopefully be at the sharp end of the Premier League. Lets put Southampton on the map! I want nothing less than Europa League qualification from you this season."

Kelvin Davis - "No disrespect gaffer, but we were fortunate to get that last year.. look at the list of clubs we would have to beat to do it again, are you sure we are not being unrealistic?"

Me - "I am positive that you are good enough to do this. Everything is in place, we have the facilities, the players, the finances. Now is our time."

Paulo Gazzaniga - "I'm still not convinced boss.. but ok."

All of the players apart from Kelvin Davis, Paulo Gazzaniga and Cuco Martina reacted brilliantly and showed that they were up for the fight this season.

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With that out of the way it was time to hit the training pitch and start raising fitness levels ready for the coming season.

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Saints reject Chelsea bid for Ward-Prowse

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Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has today confirmed that the club has rejected a bid from Chelsea for James Ward-Prowse. BBC Sources believe the bid for the England under-21 Captain was in the region of £18 million but Koeman says that a deal is off the table. "We have already lost Clyne and Schneiderlin this transfer window and we are not interested in selling any more players. We are under no financial pressure to do it and James is a big part of our plans at the club. No sale."

This is unlikely to be the end of the matter however as Chelsea are already said to be readying another bid and have previously made multiple bids for Everton defender John Stones. BBC pundit Ian Wright see's the importance in buying English players. "All these big clubs now need to fill their quota of English players and they dont produce any through their academy so they buy from other club. Saints have gotta stand firm on this one, he is a cracking young player."
 
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Staff Changes at St Marys

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In order to fulfil our ambitions at the club, we have unfortunately had to release some of our staff members from our scouting and physiotherapy departments. This has set us back just over £1 million which will be taken from our transfer budget but it is a vitally important part of the plan that is being put in place.

David Fevre has agreed to join us from Blackburn Rovers to head up a new look Physiotherapy team that will hopefully improve our ability to diagnose, treat and prevent serious injuries to the squad.

We have also taken steps to recruiting some experience scouts from around Europe to increase our knowledge of players in other countries and to enable us to further our reach in world football when it comes to recruitment.

By our estimations this puts our Scouting department at a level where it is the 4th best in the Premier League, and our physiotherapy department as the 3rd best in the league.

A major reshape has also taking place in the coaching department where we have endeavoured to provide a good quality of training at a less stressful workload so every player can recieve the attention he needs during the season. We now believe that we have some of the best coaches in the Premier League and possibly in Europe which will help us to develop our players and increase our reputation.

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Wanyama injury blow for Saints​

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Southampton defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama faces an injury lay-off of up to two months as he picked up an injury in training. The diagnosis of strained knee ligaments was brought about by a rough training ground tackle and will mean that the Kenyan will miss Southampton's Europa League qualifying matches and the start of the new Premier League season.
 
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We all huddled around the television in the dressing room as the draw for the Europa League 3rd qualifying round took place. Everybody held their breath as our number was drawn from the pot.

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Could be a lot worse but we must not underestimate our opponents and a long trip to Romania is not ideal.
 
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Starting XI - Stekelenburg, Targett, Fonte, Van Dijk, Cedric, Clasie, Romeu, Mane, Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Pelle.

A fantastic effort from the lads as we kept a solid clean sheet and nicked an away goal to put us in command of the tie. I am very pleased for Romeu as he has been working hard and is looking to take his chance to cement a first team place with Wanyama out of action.
 
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Starting XI - Stekelenburg, Targett, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Clasie, Romeu, Tadic, Davis, Mane, Pelle.

Beautiful to watch. For the first time this season the team really went through the gears and ran out 6-0 winners on the night. Dusan Tadic in particular was just a joy to watch grabbing a brace of goals and assists. Into the hat for the playoffs!
 
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The playoff draw will see us go up against Swedish side Goteborg. Very happy to have avoided some of the teams that are in the playoff including the likes of Dortmund, Molde, West Ham, Athletic Bilbao and Bordeux. We will travel away from home first to Sweden before hosting them at St Marys for the decider. A place in the Europa League up for grabs. Who wants it?
 
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Pre Season​

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Everybody at the club are delighted with how pre season has turned out. With the exception of Victor Wanyama the squad has come through unscathed and everybody is up to fitness. We played some cracking matches along the way, my personal highlights being the win over Sevilla and our thumping of Tirgu Mures in the Europa League. Three clean sheets on the bounce show that the defence is beginning to gel and 16 goals in 7 games isn't bad going.

Player of Pre season​

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It was a close run thing, but Cedric gets the nod for my player of pre season. As solid as you like at right back in every single game he has played in with an average rating of 7.56. Honourable mentions go to Dusan Tadic, Virgil Van Dijk and Sadio Mane who have all been superb.
 
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LIVE Ronald Koeman Press Conference LIVE​

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Q - "Hi Ronald, Adam Blackmore, BBC Solent. Are you happy with how the squad is shaping up ahead of the new season?"

A - "Yes I think so, we have a good quality of player here at the club, and a good mix of experience and youth. Everybody is settled in really well and the new players are bedding in nicely."

Q - "Satisfied with pre season Ronald?"

A - "Absolutely, we have had some tough matches but played very well in them. There are signs of defensive solidarity and Pelle and Mane and Dusan have all been in the goals, so promising signs."

Q - "You successfully navigated your Europa League tie with what can only be called absolute ease, are you confident of qualifying for the group stages?"

A - "There is 180 minutes of football to navigate first. I am not in the business of making predictions but the squad is in a good place and we go to Sweden confident in our own abilities."

Q - "Do you envisage Europa League football making your time in the Premier League difficult?"

A - "Obviously our schedule is a little more hectic this year, but I have every confidence that the squad is complete enough to cope with the demands. We are determined to take Southampton Football Club as far as it can go at every opportunity, and that includes European Football."

Q - "Do you see any more players joining the club in this window?"

A - "We are working on a couple of things, but it is difficult. Some clubs are reluctant to do business, because they dont want to lose their best players. We have a fantastic team here at the club who are working on it, and I remain hopeful we can do something."

Q - "Your first match of the season is tomorrow, you face Aston Villa who have recently appointed Fernando Hierro as their new manager, A difficult game?"

A - "It is a difficult one to prepare for.. A new manager sometimes brings unpredictable change which we will have to cope with. At the end of the day we are going to play the football that we believe we are capable of and worry about our own strategy and not theirs, we can then adapt in the match if needs be."

Q - "There are rumours flying around about players leaving the club, James Ward-Prowse, Shane Long, Gaston Ramirez... can you shed any light on those?"

A - "Chelsea came back in with another bid.. we rejected that also and must reiterate, he is not for sale unless they want to come in with a stupid money offer. The club does its transfer business behind closed doors, when anything happens you will be the first to know, but until then I am not going to speculate."
 
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Starting XI - Stekelenburg, Targett, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Clasie, Romeu, Tadic, Davis, Mane, Pelle.

A very disappointing start to our Premier League campaign as we lost a tight game with Villa. Agbonlahor scored the only goal of the game mid way through the 2nd half. We had some great chances and bossed the game in terms of shots on goal but just couldn't get the breakthrough. We move on.
 
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Southampton sign midfielder Ganso​

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Southampton have today signed 25 year old Brazilian midfielder Ganso for a fee of £5.75 million. Ganso arrives in the Premier League from Sao Paulo where he made 101 appearances and scored 16 goals. He will link up with the first team squad immediately and will be available for Southamptons next match against Chelsea in the Premier League.

"We are delighted to welcome Ganso to the club and look forward to seeing what he can do for us" Southampton manager Ronald Koeman said. "he is a clever playmaker and can play in a variety of positions, we hope he can give us that extra something that can unlock tight matches."

BBC football pundit Jermaine Jenas reckons that the saints have bought well. "Ganso is a class act. He has been capped multiple times by his country, he is a good age and can still improve. His play is based around his intelligence and his ability to pick a pass which is something that Southampton will find very useful."

Ganso has been capped 8 times by Brazil and will join the midfield fight at his new club, vying for a place with the likes of Steven Davis, James Ward-Prowse and Gaston Ramirez.
 
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Starting XI - Stekelenburg, Targett, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Clasie, Romeu, Tadic, Davis, Mane, Pelle.

Devastating. We got picked apart by a Chelsea side that lost 4-0 to Crystal Palace on the opening day of the season. We were running around like children in what was a completely unacceptable display and I let them know it after the match. Tadic missed a penalty when the score was still 0-0 and they went straight back up the other end to score. Oh how different the match could have been if we had scored. Ganso made his debut from the bench but was unable to make an impact. Much work ahead.
 
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Starting XI - Stekelenburg, Targett, Van Dijk, Fonte, Cedric, Romeu, Clasie, Tadic, Mane, Ganso, Pelle.

Well.. the official description pretty much sums it up. A drab game where absolutely nothing happened. A couple of bright notes include a full debut for Ganso who played well and a sterling defensive effort with the whole back line achieving a match rating of 7 or more. No away goals but we are surely still favourites for the home leg.
 
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