Southampton's Award Winners an Early Reward for Thinking Differently in Summer

For two awards few people really care about—can you honestly even guess at August’s recipients?—the powers-that-be certainly take their time in deciding the winners of the Premier League’s player- and manager-of-the-month awards.

On Friday (October 17), the winners of the September prizes were officially—finally—confirmed, with fast-starting Southampton completing a clean sweep.

Ronald Koeman was named manager of the month after guiding the Saints to three wins from three games during the month in question, with striker Graziano Pelle taking the players' award after scoring three goals—one of them a sweet overhead kick—on the way to that nine-point haul.

"It's a great compliment," Koeman told Southampton's official website. "It's a personal prize for the manager, but I have to say thanks to the players, it's always those on the pitch who win games.”

The success is all the more remarkable considering how Southampton were roundly written off by the majority of observers ahead of the start of the season.

Having lost five key players—Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers and Rickie Lambert—from last season’s eighth-place finishing side, the south coast club proceeded to reinvest just £65 million of the £105 million produced by those summer sales. 

Money often seems to equate to quality in the modern game, so that profit on the balance sheet was taken as a sign that the club's owner, Katharina Liebherr, was protecting her investment rather than looking to enhance the playing squad.

What is more, the club had lost its manager during that same period, with Mauricio Pochettino heading for Tottenham Hotspur—with many presuming he had foreseen the end of Southampton’s rapid recent ascent with each outgoing player. 

Koeman, a man who had never coached in England, eventually replaced Pochettino, the Dutchman subsequently returning to his homeland to sign a number of the players tasked with replacing those who had been stolen away by bigger sides.

All signs pointed to a difficult season at St Mary’s, with the new signings expected to struggle to adapt and—even if they did fit in seamlessly—lack the quality of their predecessors. So far that has not proven to be the case; Koeman’s side winning four of their opening seven matches, and sitting third in the fledgling Premier League table.

At the moment, none of the players (or the manager) who departed the club in the summer are currently above their old employers in this season’s standings.

"We had a great month, which was maybe unexpected for a lot of people and maybe that's had an influence on this prize,” Koeman acknowledged.

“Everybody was a little afraid before the season, but we've done a great job—all of the coaches and the technical staff, and all of the people at the club.”

Tim Ireland/Associated Press

The players in particular deserve great credit. Take Pelle, the previously journeyman Italian who joined the club for around £9 million from Feyenoord in the summer.

It was feared that the 29-year-old would follow in the footsteps of many of the strikers to have previously made the jump from the Dutch Eredivisie to the Premier League. For every Luis Suarez, there have seemingly been three or four Afonso Alves and Mateja Kezmans, players who never found their goalscoring touch against the supposedly more obdurate defences in England.

Pelle, however, already has four goals in the league—earning himself a first national team call-up in the process.

"I'm really happy," Pelle told the club website. "I'm proud of myself, but it's not just about me. Thanks go to the staff, my teammates and all of the supporters because we are all together.

"I'm really happy in general with what I've been doing over the last couple of years.”

Pelle is one of a number of positive aspects of the start to the season for Southampton, with almost all the new signings making an immediate impact.

Fraser Forster has proven to be a huge upgrade in goal (though, compared to last season’s options, how could he not be?), while attacking midfielder Dusan Tadic has made Koeman look to be a very shrewd operator with his creative, impactful displays since his £12 million move.

Sadio Mane and Shane Long, two similarly priced additions, have still to show their best form—although both did arrive without the benefit of a pre-season with their new team-mates.

Nevertheless, the new blood has complemented a production line of talent that does not seem to be ending, despite the departure of so many homegrown talents in the summer.

This month Nathaniel Clyne became the latest Southampton player to earn an England call-up, while James Ward-Prowse was beginning to establish himself as a viable playmaker at this level before injury cruelly halted his progress.

Julian Finney/Getty Images

In hindsight, perhaps those who wrote off Southampton were guilty of the same arrogance—or, at the least, the same unquestioned belief in the primacy of the Premier League within European club football—that Koeman and Co. have actually gone on to exploit to their own advantage.

In a similar way to Newcastle a few years ago, where the Magpies plundered French football for fresh blood and ended up finishing fifth on the back of that recruitment drive, Koeman has used his knowledge of other, less familiar, European leagues to supplement his squad at reasonable prices—paying for talent, as those clubs buying from Southampton did, without the additional tax that comes with hype.

Was any other English club in the market for Pelle or for Tadic? Early evidence this seasons suggests they should have been. Instead, Southampton are reaping the rewards for thinking beyond convention—both in terms of the manager they appointed, and where they went looking for new players. 

It is, of course, just a start—one good month does not a season make. But it is nevertheless an encouraging start, and one that should perhaps serve as a reminder to other sides in the division that they are always opportunities to improve by reconsidering methods and approaches.

"This means a lot, and now we have to take the next step," Koeman concluded. "It's now October, and September is behind us. We have to look forward and we'd like to celebrate with three points against Sunderland [on Saturday]."