6) Southampton don’t hold all the answers
It’s probably fair to say that we got carried away last summer. Signing three players from the same club was always going to be risky… How could we expect all of them to continue that same level of performance? But ultimately Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren have all somewhat underperformed. Lallana has been held back by fitness issues but did at least look more like his old self towards the end of the season. Lambert didn’t fit the system and wasn’t given enough games, while Lovren struggled to recover from a very poor start – and did not live up to his £20m price-tag.
5) The young players aren’t the only way forward
A lot of the old guard are going to be on their way out this summer. Kolo Toure has signed a new contract, but the likes of Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Brad Jones are going to be going (via the Liverpool Echo). That’s going to place an even greater importance on our young guns – the likes of Coutinho, as well as Emre Can, Alberto Moreno and Jordon Ibe, who all have to step up next season and help fill that void. What’s important is that we don’t just replace our experience with more youngsters. Everyone is itching to see the likes of Jerome Sinclair and Sheyi Ojo playing more regularly but their time might have to wait for now.
