Southampton FC: The Fall To Grace

Very good player, Schöne is great for Ajax irl

TodayAtTomorrow: Thanks! I wasn't too impressed with that graphic, to be honest, but if you like that then you're going to like my other graphics more!

the champi0n fm: Thanks, I rate Kurzawa very highly on FM so I'm pleased to get him for that much. Schone is 27 at the start of the save, so it's not too bad of a deal

Zed: Thanks, I agree

Great signing, but please, stop putting the name of the player through his head

Tallery: Thanks! I'll see what I can do

SOUTHAMPTON'S 2013/14 PRE SEASON

It's been a strange summer for fans of Southampton, who, at the end of May, were enthusiastic about the upcoming season. They had a fantastic young team, finished in a reasonable position in the 2012/13 season and could only be seen going upwards. However, when Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers, to name a few key players, left the Saints to bigger sides playing European football (well, except for Shaw), it looked like the club were in a crisis.

Things were not helped when Mauricio Pochettino, the manager who had helped the club to the heights they were currently in, also left the club to join Tottenham Hotspur. However, Southampton quickly hired Champions League winning manager Roberto Di Matteo as Pochettino's successor, and the former Chelsea player brought in a series of young players to replace those outgoing.

So, they began their first pre-season under Di Matteo with a game against their own Under 21s, at St Mary's. The scoring was opened by Graziano Pelle, followed by a goal from Shane Long to make the final score 2-0. They then faced Ukrainian side Metalist, in which they lost 3-2 as a double from Dusan Tadic proved not to be enough after Cheredninchenko, Xavier and Jaja all scored for the away side.

The Saints then traveled to Scotland to face Queen of South, with a double from Shane Long accompanied by goals from new signing Max Clayton and rumoured new captain Jose Fonte leading to a scoreline of 4-0 to the side of South England. Another away game was next when they faced Servette FC in a 2-0 win, with Florin Gardos and Lasse Schone being the scorers.

The next game was against League One side Yeovil Town in their third successive away fixture. Another double from Shane Long and one from midfielder Steven Davis lead to a solid 3-0 win for the Saints. Their run of clean sheets continued against Weston-Super-Mare in another 2-0 win, with Jay Rodriguez scoring an impressive double to seal the win.

Southampton then played host against European giants Barcelona, and managed to hold the Spanish side at bay in an impressive 2-2 draw, with an own goal from Marc-Andre ter Stegen and an actual goal from Shane Long being balanced by goals from Lionel Messi and Martin Montoya. The final game of the pre-season was against Portugal's Sporting Lisbon, with goals from Sporting's Diego Capel and Adrien not being enough as Emmanuel Mayuka and Ryan Bertrand scored once alongside a double from Graziano Pelle to make the final score of Southampton's pre-season a 4-2 in their advantage.

Great write up and graphic

Another great update! Keep it going Alex Fantastic graphic as well

Great update and great graphics. Really enjoying the story Alex

I like dem graphics! Decent pre-season as well, good job so far

Tallery: Thanks!

Trop: Thanks!

TheLuckOfTheIrish: Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it so far

Zed: Thanks, the pre-season went better than I expected

That is an incredible graphic and a solid pre-season. Good luck ahead

xander_dunlop1: Thanks, I was impressed with the pre season

BPL SEASON PREVIEW: Southampton

It's time for another Barclays Premier League season preview, this time with a team who haven't been short for drama this season - Southampton. With five first team players leaving permanently, one leaving on a loan, and the departure of their successful manager Mauricio Pochettino, at the beginning of July, the Saints were one of the favourites to be going down to the Championship.

However, they have appointed Roberto Di Matteo, UEFA Champions League winning manager, as Pochettino's replacement, and since then, things have looked bright for Southampton. However, we will talk about Di Matteo later, as first, we'll take a look at how their pre-season went, as well as their new signings.

The first players to be brought to St Mary's were Marco Benassi, a central midfielder joining the Saints on loan from Inter Milan, and centre back Eder Alvarez Balanta, who joined from River Plate for £5m. These two players are highly rated young superstars and should be fantastic in the years to come.

These signings were followed by the purchases of desperately needed left back Layvin Kurzawa, joining from AS Monaco for £15m, and Ajax attacker Lasse Schone, who's been fantastic for the Eredivisie side in recent times. These were the four signings Di Matteo made as manager, and they are very impressive deals indeed.

Southampton's pre-season was overall a successful one, with a 3-2 defeat against Metalist Kharkiv being the only negative note in a pre-season campaign which included victories against Yeovil Town, Sporting Lisbon, Weston-super-mare and Queen of South, and an impressive draw against a strong Barcelona team.

The new kits for the 2014/15 season are sponsored by Betfair and made by Adidas' best, proven by the beautiful colour changes to the logos on each of the shirts. The home kit is two shades of red horizontal stripes with a white trim, while the away jersey contains light red diagonal stripes over a white shirt with a red trim. Finally, the third kit is black with a gold design. Truly beautiful kits from Adidas as they prove they are still one of the best kit manufacturers.

And now we move on to the new manager, Roberto Di Matteo, who has a UEFA Champions League trophy to his name as a manager, but has been unemployed since 2012, when he was sacked as Chelsea manager just months after this achievement. However, as he begins as Southampton manager, Saints fans can only be optimistic as the signings of future world class players will only do them good.

Di Matteo didn't waste time in naming his new captain and vice-captain, after the departures of Adam Lallana to Liverpool, as young midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, and experienced centre back Jose Fonte. Southampton fans were pleased with this announcement, as it most likely meant that Schneiderlin wouldn't be leaving for Borussia Dortmund like rumours suggested.

Last season, Southampton finished in 8th place in the Premier League, and despite Di Matteo bringing in some fantastic players to the squad, neither Zed nor Bashiru can see the side finishing there or higher this season, with Zed predicting a 9th place finish and Bashiru predicting the Saints to finish 11th. This averages at 10th place for Southampton, a place that most Southampton fans would be happy with this season.

We asked Bashiru, Zed and Tal to give their opinions on the best and worst new signings and the best and worst players at Southampton. The best signing according to the three was Eder Alvarez Balanta, the much-needed centre back. The worst new signing, however, was the loan move for Marco Benassi, possibly because the Saints already have Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Davis, Cork, Ward-Prowse and Taider in the same position.

The best player had a tie between Nathaniel Clyne, Graziano Pelle and Victor Wanyama, with the three unable to make a decision on who the best player was exactly. And the worst player, according to the three, is Jack Cork, with two votes.

To finish off this season preview, here is their predicted starting line-up this season, ruling out all injuries suffered to players.

Great update Alex, nice graphics!

Another really quality graphic, a solid squad and hopefully you can bring the rain in the first season, Balanta is always a quality signing as well