Southampton finished no worse than eighth between 2013 and 2017. In 2016, during Koeman’s final season, they finished with 63 points. The football was enthralling at moments, as were the outcomes. Saints developed an expansive, progressive style with a distinct energy and character, as well as a reputation for providing a healthy dose of surprise results.
They won back-to-back games against Arsenal and Manchester United in January 2015 without allowing a single goal. They defeated Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in October of the same year, before defeating Arsenal 4-1 on Boxing Day. They defeated United again at Old Trafford in January 2016, as well as Liverpool and Tottenham in the same season.
It was a confluence of wise operational decisions, a cohesive structure, and favorable external conditions that propelled Southampton into European contention the following season, with the opportunity to treat fans to one of the pinnacles of continental football – a night at the San Siro. It was a dream come true for most supporters, a daydream played out in real time. The kind usually reserved for imaginative Football Manager games.
The return trip was even better.
Van Dijk put Southampton ahead before Yuto Nagatomo scored an own goal to give Saints a historic 2-1 triumph. Although they did not advance beyond the group round, they did defeat three-time European winners Inter Milan. That was enough to please me. Enough to indicate an unreversible increasing trend. Potential on its way to greatness.
Prior to the Saints’ European adventure, Koeman was enticed to Goodison Park by the prospect of the largest transfer budget in Everton history by majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri. The loss shook St Mary’s, but it was not utterly devastating. They resorted to former Lyon and Nice manager Claude Puel, who eventually succumbed to Southampton’s beautifully unrealistic expectations.
He oversaw an eighth-place finish as Saints advanced to the League Cup final at Wembley, similar to the waves Brighton are currently making. The eighth was strong and decent. An example of overachievement. Not according to the Southampton board, which immediately fired Puel shortly after the season ended.
Granted the football was not as pretty, and lacked the flair and verve of the Koeman age, but it was productive enough to ensure stability. A total of six managers (one caretaker), including current head coach Ruben Selles, have taken the helm since Puel’s exit. None have outperformed the Frenchman’s win percentage (38).
This is a case of a dramatic rise – Southampton were competing in League One as recently as 2011 – leading to one almighty fall. Perhaps Leicester can be categorised similarly. They too are victims of their own success, albeit the comedown from winning Premier League glory as 5,000/1 outsiders is altogether different from the predicament unravelling on the south coast.
Southampton’s five-year plan, circa 2017, was geared towards breaking the Premier League’s top four in coming seasons. Now they find themselves staring into the abyss, holding a one-way ticket to the Championship.
If Saints were once ahead of the curve – using a data-led approach to unearth young talent and shop in savvy player markets at low risk – they have now fallen frightfully behind it. Competitors caught up, cruising by in the outside lane while Saints sat idle on the hard shoulder.
The model in operation just along the A27, 70 miles east of Southampton in Brighton, is making matters worse. The Seagulls are now the pride of the south coast, soaring ever higher after years of steady improvement and consistent recruitment. They are the envy of most middle-sized clubs with modest budgets.
Indeed, there was a time where Brighton aspired to emulate Southampton or Leicester. How the tables have turned.
Withstanding a relentless drain of talent, both on and off the pitch, is the area in which Brighton have succeeded where rivals have not. The football at the Amex Stadium is just as effective and bears just as much fruit as before Ben White was poached by Arsenal or Marc Cucurella by Chelsea, or Dan Burn left for Newcastle and technical director Dan Ashworth followed, or Yves Bissouma and Leandro Trossard chose to head for different sides of north London.
There has been a purge on Brighton’s best talent for years and nothing much has changed. Like a well-oiled assembly line. Neatly summed up by the seamless transition from Graham Potter as head coach to the enigmatic Roberto De Zerbi.
Southampton, comparatively, have lost their way, abandoning principles once held dear to the club in a desperate attempt to survive. When a ship is sinking it requires life rafts, not rubber rings. Replacing experienced manager Ralph Hasenhuttl with Nathan Jones – a novice who was untried and untested at top-flight level – back in November, was perhaps the most fatal mistake of all.
Jones ended up being the club’s shortest-serving permanent manager, characterized by a circus of noise and blame-shifting.
During his three months in command, the club slid to the basement of the Premier League while wasting millions of pounds on players who are either on the substitutes’ bench or do not make the matchday squad at all. Croatia international Mislav Orsic is the clearest example of such deception, having appeared in just six minutes of Premier League action since his £8 million January arrival.
Southampton are without a win in 11 Premier League games, losing eight of those, after winning two of their first three under Selles. Overall, they have lost 24 times this term, smashing the previous club-record for a 38-game campaign.
Indeed, an ill-fated trip to Nottingham Forest on Monday Night Football was Saints’ season summed up. The burden of expectation clearly weighing heavy on fragile young shoulders – their softness and naivety laid bare.
“We were ready to come, ready to perform, but for one reason or another, some details went against us, details from ourselves,” a sorrowful Selles told Sky Sports. “That is painful because by just correcting those things we could be in a much better position.” Relegation was confirmed a mere five days later.
At the bitter end, Southampton are a side where pride is all that is left to play for. Such a prolonged malaise has taken its weary toll, while a once indignant fanbase turned increasingly indifferent as hopes of survival were extinguished with every passing week. Each display tinged with a greater sense of foreboding.
Perhaps paying the ultimate price of relegation and restarting the up-cycle from scratch is what needs to happen for years of chaos and conflict to give way to calmer waters.
