Southampton 2017/18 pre-season review – August
By Chris Hughes
Southampton finished pre-season on a high note against Sevilla, but it wasn’t before a slightly embarrassing performance a few days prior.
The Saints’ 2017/18 pre-season has officially reached it’s conclusion. Mauricio Pellegrino has managed the side for five matches, in three different countries and and at four different grounds.
Southampton defeated Saint-Etienne at the end of July to give the Argentine his first victory in charge of the English side, having drawn his previous two.
However before they could start the season against Swansea, Southampton had the small task of hosting both FC Augsburg and Sevilla at St. Mary’s Stadium.
FC Augsburg
To say that Mauricio Pellegrino’s St. Mary’s bow didn’t go as planned would be an understatement. The Saints went out with a decently strong team, albeit some experimenting with Shane Long down the wing and Jan Bednarek in defence.
However, no one expected Southampton to go out and lose 4-0, especially as the German outfit had finished in the bottom third of the Bundesliga last season.
Michael Gregoritsch scored two goals before half-time as Augsburg blew Southampton completely out of the water, as despite some efforts the south-coast outfit were fairly below par in front of goal.
Ja-Cheol Koo all-but sealed the fate of the encounter when he added a third, but that wasn’t enough for a side who had lost to relegated Middlesbrough less than a week before.
Raphael Framberger added a final nail in the Southampton coffin late in the game to hammer home the score-line, leaving Saints fans embarrassed after a less-than impressive performance by the whole team.
Sevilla
Southampton’s supporters were naturally a little tentative going into the game against Sevilla, with much more pessimism than optimism.
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It wasn’t because the fans didn’t have faith in their players, it was more because the Spanish side have won famously won the Europa League twice in recent years and behind the big boys are one of Spain’s top sides. Oh, and they beat Arsenal the other week.
However Southampton turned up with an impressive performance on a sunny afternoon on the south coast, with a goal either side of half-time to take the game with a 2-0 win.
Whilst it was only a friendly, the confidence that the win will bring going into the game against Swansea next weekend could prove crucial.
Jack Stephens was the man to open the scoring before a sweet move late on finished by Manolo Gabbiadini helped seal a complete performance by the boys in red and white.
It means that Pellegrino has lost just once in pre-season and has also kept three clean sheets, whilst his Southampton side have scored a total of seven goals.