Saints go into their third game of the season looking to kick start the season, a similat situation as Ronald Koeman found himself in in his opening campaign.

Saints fans who have been predicting doom and gloom in recent weeks should take a look back to the past two seasons and realise that both of those ultimately successful campaigns did not start well for the team.

Two years ago Ronald Koeman did not get off the ground running with Saints, defeat at Liverpool was followed by a 0-0 home draw with West Bromwich Albion during which certain sections of the crowd made it quite clear that they did not like Graziano Pelle by from an early stage of the game ironically cheering every time he won a header.

All the talk after these opening games was about how the new signings were not as good as those they were replacing, sound familiar ?

But in the third Premier League game Saints came good, they traveled to West Ham, won 3-1 and never looked back.

Last season it was an even worse start, a 2-2 draw at eventually relegated Newcastle followed by an awful 3-0 home defeat by Everton had the moaners out again, the new signings weren't as good as the ones they had replaced, sound familiar ?

But there was more, Koeman had been found out, the tactics were wrong, the list was endless, no account was taken for injuries etc.

It did not get better in the third game, a 0-0 draw at Watford wasn't a disaster but coming straight after a 1-1 draw with Midjytland at home in the Europa League it was enough for those who seemed to have little patience to stomp their feet and ask why we weren't winning every game, although they already apparently knew the answer and that was a failure to match the top six in wages and transfer fees and that was why players were leaving.

It took the fourth game of the season to get going last term and even then the upsurge was only temporary, before we hit a terrible bad patch before Xmas, which again brought out those who were predicting the demise of Saints and questioning what Katharina Liebherr was doing, I suspect if she was reading any message boards she was doing exactly that herself, but for far different reasons.

The moral of that story though is be patient, a football season is a marathon not a sprint and there are very many ups and downs to go through, it won't always end on an up, but overall we are still in a very good position and if you want to know wh Saints are taking this course, google a few facts and figures about the financial situations of not just Saints but other Premier league clubs.

But having said all this Claude Puel has to do what Koeman did two years ago and that is win the fans over, Koeman had an advantage, firstly he was Dutch and the reality is that the English feel far more affinity to the Dutch than we do the French and secondly Koeman was a well known name both as a player and as a manager, the fans had heard of him and he had a reputation, something that Puel did not have.

So this weekend's game is vital for Claude Puel, not just for the three points, but to start to win the fans over, he needs to show that the club are making progress and that his methods and tactics are starting to work.

Football supporters do not like change, they want stability, but the reality in the modern game is that tactics are constantly evolving and sometimes you have to move with the times and not stand still, the bottom line though is that best of all supporters like results and no football club ever has much wrong with it on the pitch that a good run of wins cannot put right for the supporters.

So it needs to be third time lucky for Claude Puel, if it is then a lot of the doubters will fade away, not all but some, but enough to give him a little breathing space.

That breathing space will be vital, what Puel does not need as he finds his feet in a new footballing environment is pressure from the fans, this can create a toxic atmosphere, we had a lot of this back on the 00's and eventually it dragged us down on the field, the last 7 years has seen the managers backed unequivocally, even at times when they were replacing a fans favourite the new man was taken on his own merits.

The truth is with Puel he has a better managerial pedigree than Mauricio Pochetino, the Argentinian himself took four games to register a win, but the fans gave him time and he repaid their faith.

So Saints supporters should look back and learn from history and give Claude Puel the benefit of the doubt, hopefully it will be third time lucky for Claude Puel, hopeully it will show that the squad has what it takes for the coming season, after all players are adaptable, rarely do they play the same system at every club they play for, so why should a new one at Saints be an issue.

The only issue is adapting to it and Claude Puel has not had the time to bed the new way of playing in due to the disruption caused by the Euros ending so late this year, give him that time and he will continue the good work his predecessors have done, don't give it to him and it will make his job harder and ultimately not do anything to help the team.

Photo: Action Images

perazi added 10:45 - Aug 26 Good article. I think Claude is a good Manager; the problem so far, traditional slow start apart, is a weaker team on the pitch. This might be addressed by a signing or two, but you can't cough up Pelle, Mane and Wanyama and expect a seamless transition, even though Hojbjerg is top class in the making and Redmond is a useful winger.
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