Dusan Tadic Making Southampton Fans Forget About Adam Lallana

Southampton are an unlikely hit this season and Serbian winger Dusan Tadic their new hero, disproving a wider point about players who come from outside the Premier League needing time to adapt.

In his recent column for The Independent, former Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood argues that Southampton have made a point to all the Premier League's "lesser" clubs—and that point is that you don't have to buy players proven in the nation's top division to survive.

Sherwood wrote:

"

Someone once told me that when a club decides to buy 'experience in football', the only thing they are guaranteeing is that those players, or that manager, will cost more.

"

It's hard to disagree with that when you look at the work done by Southampton in this summer's transfer window.

They sold five very important players (Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Calum Chambers and Ricky Lambert) to other Premier League clubs for a sum in excess of £100 million.

They bought six others for £64 million—and only one of those six (Shane Long, formerly of Hull City) came from the Premier League. Crucially, they also brought a foreign manager, Ronald Koeman, with no previous experience of either playing or managing in England.

And despite all those massive changes—or, perhaps, because of them—they're sitting in second place in the league table after 10 games, topped only by Chelsea. A simply incredible achievement.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Dusan Tadic is among Southampton's unlikely heroes this season. Brought from Dutch side FC Twente as a "like-for-like" replacement for Lallana, the Serbian cost Saints a reasonable £11 million—less than half of the sum they received from Liverpool for their last season's star man and captain.

On current form, he looks like not only a bargain buy but even an upgrade on Lallana. Tadic has already made six assists in the league, creating a total of 28 chances in 10 matches (as per Squawka) and scoring once so far, in the 8-0 rout of Sunderland.

He’s been fantastic, making a mockery of those theories that signings from abroad always need time adapt to the Premier League.

Of course, signing Tadic was really a no-brainer for Southampton. Manager Koeman knew him well from the Dutch League and was perfectly aware of what the 25-year-old Serbian left midfielder/winger can do for him, as Tadic already was something of an assist king in Holland.

Playing for FC Twente, he recorded 32 goals and 36 assists in 85 appearances. Before that, he netted 14 and made 32 goals in 76 games for Groningen.

It was pretty much clear what he can offer, and the only question was whether he could replicate that form in the Premier League or perhaps not.

Well, for now it looks like he can. Defence has arguably been crucial for Southampton's success, as the team has conceded merely five goals so far—half as many as anyone else in the league—but Tadic and Graziano Pelle, who previously played under Koeman at Feyenoord, have been heroes in Saints' amazing march.

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"You play how you feel in that moment," Tadic told Gordon Simpson in an interview for The Daily Echo. "When you have the ball you need to be relaxed."

That's exactly how he looks when in possession. His passes are audacious and elegant, his crosses weighted, his one-touch moves and chips delightful and exciting to watch.  

Koeman's signings raised a few eyebrows this summer, but they're paying off brilliantly. And Dusan Tadic is having Saints fans lost in the moment, quickly forgetting about Adam Lallana.

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