Arron Sanders gives his opinion on the upcoming season and what can be expected from Will Still and his squad, after a pre season played mainly behind closed doors and very little given away about our managers preferences for his team and playing style so far.

We're just days away from the start of the 25/26 season for Saints which begins with the visit to St Mary's of the Disney backed Wrexham.

Whilst a second half revival in our last pre season outing against Premier League side Brighton will have injected some much needed confidence, it is still uncertain quiet what we can expect from Will Still's side come Saturday lunchtime.

Questions remain over both preferred personnel as well as a defined way of playing, a high press on the front foot with plenty of balls crossed into the box is what many a journalist or French football expert said we could expect from a Southampton side lead by their new young manager however as preseason went on we seemed to see less and less of this.

Perhaps this is due to another of Still's much appreciated skillset his adaptability, although reported he wants to play with a back 4 the turnaround against Brighton came on the back of switching to a back 5 and an ability to seamlessly switch between shapes could proven to be one of Saints' greatest assets this coming season.

In terms of personnel the fact that the transfer window remains open for a few more weeks after the season begins will no doubt be a hindrance for Southampton, with transfer speculation already surrounding the brighter talents of Tyler Dibling & Mateus Fernandes. Well respected journalist Adam Blackmore has hinted that Saints may well lose both before the deadline on September 1st.

Pressure will then be on Technical Director Johannes Spors, to replace both with the adequate fire power required to help fire Saints back to the Premier League at the first time of asking as they managed two seasons ago. Should Spors get those decisions right and enable Will Still to put together a settled starting eleven from the South Coast Derby onwards then I believe fans can look forward to another exciting Championship campaign ahead.

All Photos Via Reuters

halftimeorange added 13:38 - Aug 7 I'm unconvinced that Still has got them playing his way. I believe that the Russell Martin style will take longer than a few closed doors friendlies to change. RM got the team off the floor when he arrived, then persuaded them that his way would see us promoted, which it did but, then he wouldn't change, the players couldn't change for fear of being omitted and now they're being schooled in another, vastly different approach, with question marks over half the personnel being here in a month. Will Still needs us to cut him a lot of slack for some weeks ahead.

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Bowlercow added 15:37 - Aug 7 The Wrexham game is a tough start.Their squad,including coaches have been together for some time No new system,no new style,players who know each other.Almost the polar opposite of our club. It will be interesting to see how many of their 8 new signings start on Saturday That may just give us an edge I expect them to be there abouts next May Here's wishing everyone has an enjoyable happy season Let's go Will Still Let's go

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Mattsgrandad added 16:00 - Aug 7 Build a solid defence and the confidence will start coming back. I'd love to see us keep fernandes but if not please don't buy sub standard replacements.
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Centurion added 21:56 - Aug 7 I think we will successfully consolidate ourselves as a mid table championship club.
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kristianJ added 09:18 - Aug 8 In pre season we lacked any sort of identity and I don’t think Will Still knows what his best XI is. For the time being we would be better playing a back 5 as this would suit Manning and Sugawara better and would mean we could play Edwards. As others have said we will need to be patient as Dibling and Fernandes will likely leave meaning we will likely recruit 2 or 3 new players, which will take time to do and then further time to bed them in. I fancy Wrexham to grab a point on Saturday, but think Saints will start to improve by mid September…

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