Our man on at the scene Arron Sanders gives his opinions on Saints opening pre season friendly, some Southampton fans were not happy with the result, but was that unfair ?

Pre season kicked off Saturday afternoon for Saints, making the short Journey down the M27 to neighbours Eastleigh Football Club at The Silverlake Stadium,

The game was seemingly one of two halves, with the first half eleven failing to look anywhere near as impressive as their second half counterparts with only a penalty on the stroke of half time sparing them from going in behind to their National League opponents.

Things were much improved 2nd half, with those in red and white looking much sharper and playing at pace penning their opponents into their own half for much of the second 45 minutes.

The only negative, was that the pressure only resulted in one further goal for Saints which turned out to be the winner from striker Cameron Archer.

Jay Robinson was the stand out performer, making himself a constant threat down the left hand side, with Kuryu Matsuki, Tyler Dibling and Sam Edozie also looking bright.

Eastleigh have a combination of good saves, the woodwork and missed chances to thank for them still being in the match all the way through to the final whistle.

It’s only game one, and for sure much improvement will be required for the start of the Championship campaign but the second half display was a good starting point from which to build upon.

All Photos Via Reuters

mgprobert added 09:20 - Jul 14 Agreed. The first half was like watching last season's team all over again...depressing. The second half was much more encouraging - more youth, energy and positivity - approaching the sort of performance we're all hoping for from a Will Still team.
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mumps added 09:34 - Jul 14 What has happened to Juan Santos da Silva? He had a good year in Turkey scoring 7 goals although doesn’t seem to be near our squad. Is he still our player?
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underweststand added 11:29 - Jul 14 agree with mgprobert (above). Looking at the line-ups, the first half had 9 players who had game time last season with RM's slow-mo style of play, whereas barely 3 of the second half changes had played on a regular basis and the rest were younger talents who are making their way and consequently the pace upped considerably and it showed. The score may have been greater had it not been for some last ditch blocking from the home defenders. It was, after all, only a 45 min. run out for them and maybe we will see the basic squad emerging by the time we get to play Brighton, but I do feel that we still have quite a few players who will be leaving, and a some more new names to adjust to.

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