Southampton: Saints take dig at Sean Dyche in matchday programme

Southampton have taken a well-aimed dig at Burnley manager Sean Dyche in their latest matchday programme.

Saints play Aston Villa at St Mary’s tomorrow and will be looking to bounce back from their 2-1 home loss to Dyche’s side last Saturday.

Comments about Saints’ programme from the Clarets boss appeared to imply that motivation for his team’s win came from disparaging remarks about their style in the home programme.

An analysis piece suggested opponents liked to target Burnley left-back Charlie Taylor as a weak point and also emphasised the direct play that the Clarets bring to the table – with Dyche hitting back by saying:

"“A good technical analysis in their programme, I quite enjoyed that. I told the lads and said, ‘there you go, that is what they think of you’ and it is always lovely when they give you that little edge to work on. I love that. I didn’t need to (show the players), they read it and they read the disparaging remarks about Charlie Taylor of all people!”"

Saints have ht back this weekend with a little jibe of their own though.

Via the image above, Saturday’s programme for the Villa game features a ‘quote’ from Dyche, saying “Magic…I love it” as a recommendation of the work inside.

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The Saints media team have always had a clever way of making light of their situation – even when it is they who are in the firing line.

During the summer, signings were announced with animated videos of the ‘Ralph Express’ picking up players and taking them to the South Coast.

Hidden in these videos though were jibes at both Portsmouth and Liverpool – with a Pompey crested boat sinking in the water under a bridge in one and Jurgen Klopp appearing in a plane with binoculars in another.

This time around, it’s good to see that they have had a joke again with Dyche.

On the day, Dyche’s players got used to the wet and windy conditions quicker – leading to a goal direct from a corner and a superbly taken individual effort from Matej Vydra.

Saints’ performance never really clicked and they paid the price in the end, but they still remain in a positive position seven points away from the bottom three ahead of facing Villa tomorrow.

Perhaps if Dyche’s comments had come with Saints still nearer to trouble, answering back may not have been seen as the best idea by the club.