This image is a reminder of how far Southampton have come in a short span of time

Southampton has one more friendly contest out in Germany to entertain as they face 3. Liga outfit SC Preußen Münster this coming Saturday.

After this match with the Eagles is done and dusted, the start of the Championship season will feel very real, with Tonda Eckert's men then travelling to Watford on the 16th of August for their second tier opener, backed by a sell-out away end.

Eckert will have plenty of starting XI options to consider for this early season showdown with the Hornets, with Damion Downs potentially in contention to start, after scoring his side's only goal in a slim 1-0 friendly victory over Eintracht Braunschweig.

Safe to say, the starting XI that does take to the field will feel like more a well put together team unit, than the one that trudged onto the St. Mary's turf last August, when Will Still occupied the hotseat.

The starting lineup fielded vs Wrexham

Just one glance at the starting lineup that took to the field versus Wrexham shows you how far Southampton have come in such a short span of time.

Firstly, Still had to rely on Gavin Bazunu in between the sticks, long before Daniel Peretz's inspired January loan move from Bayern Munich, with the Irishman often looking shaky when wearing the number one goalkeeper jersey on the South Coast.

In stark contrast, his Israeli counterpart always looks switched on and ready to win, with Eckert definitely selecting him from the get-go against Watford, having kept nine clean sheets last season from only 26 clashes.

To add context, Bazunu has just eight clean sheets to his name, across his last two stop-start campaigns.

Still also had no Taylor Harwood-Bellis to fall back onto in defence, while other first team guarantees under the German in Finn Azaz and Ryan Manning were nowhere to be found, as forgotten former Saints man Ryan Fraser started in attack.

Southampton did win 2-1, as Manning eventually came off the bench to score, before Jack Stephens bundled home the 96th minute winner, but it's fair to say that the team that will take to the field against Watford will be much stronger.

Why the starting XI vs Watford will be stronger

Instead of relying on Ryan Fraser and Jay Robinson to unnerve the opposition defence, Eckert will be looking to Leo Scienza and the aforementioned Azaz to strike fear into the Hornets, with the enthralling attacking duo scoring 17 Championship goals last season.

Staggeringly, just two goals would be mustered up by Fraser, and his Saints academy graduate teammate last season, with the ageing Scotsman now on the books of Western Sydney Wanderers in Australia.

Adam Armstrong also calls Wolverhampton Wanderers his home now, after a mid-season exit last campaign, but even with Armstrong's well-known reputation for being a feared Championship marksman, Eckert will prefer having Cyle Larin at his disposal.

Indeed, Larin would arrive to the English game in January like a runaway train, scoring a blistering eight goals from just ten Championship starts.

Conversely, Armstrong would bow out from his long-standing St. Mary's career last campaign with a weak two goals collected across his last ten second tier outings, with Wolves hoping they can get him back into his EFL goalscoring groove.

Currently, the optimism levels are high, as the Saints embark on a new Championship adventure.

Hopefully, a win can be secured with Eckert's new-look team, compared with the mis-matched team Still had to put up with at the start of the 2025/26 season, with the four point deduction due to Spygate already wiped away significantly with a win in Hertfordshire.

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