Ronald Koeman has called for Saints supporters to be patient with Jodie Clasie as he rejoins the first team squad after well over two months out with injury.

Ronald Koeman has told Saints supporters that Jodie Clasie could be the new Morgan Schniederlin at St Mary's but that they must be prepared to give him time to show his worth.

Koeman admitted though that after so long out the Dutch midfielder will need time to get back to full fitness and match sharpness and as such is not yet ready for 90 minutes.

“Jordy has some qualities compared to Schneiderlin, in our ball possession, and also knows when to press, because he's very fast in short spaces.

“He brings a cleverness in his passing and pressing that we need. His first pass is always forwards, it's never back: he's trying to pass forwards and between the lines, good movements of the players.

“We need that and can do that better in our football.”

“He knows that he has to bring his level, and that it's a tough competition. It’s important for him to be 100 per cent in the physical stakes.

“It's not a Dutch league, and we have to bring more because he's not the most physical player.
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“That means that other qualities you have to improve, on this level, on this intensity of the game.

“But he needs time for that after his injury.”

So although Clasie will be seen as a direct replacement for Morgan Schneiderlin by Saints supporters, he is far from a carbon copy of the Frenchman being much shorter and as Koeman points out more of a passing player.

Last season Saints midfield was often dominant when Schneiderlin and Wanyama played, but it lost something going forward, from this perspective Clasie brings something different to the party and clearly Ronald Koeman is looking for the ball to be moved quicker to the likes of Sadio Mane to catch teams on the back foot.

The addition of Clasie to the squad is another step forward, the Dutch manager put together the basics of his squad last season and now this he is looking to fine tune it so that it not only has quality but also quantity.

But perhaps just as importantly its all about options for Koeman, a year ago we probably had one Premier quality player for each position and maybe half a dozen at best had a covering player of that standard, now we have at least two Premier quality players in each position and that gives the manager options, not just when he has injuries, but when he want to change tactics to adapt to each individual team we may encounter.

Photo: Action Images

IWOZTHERE added 13:33 - Oct 16 He was already going to have to adjust to the Premier so with this time out, I can't see him making an impact for quite a while. As you say, we're blessed with players able to cover and it will be interesting to eventually see who comes out of the 'mix' as first choice.
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