Saints In Salzburg The Verdict
Saints headed to the birthplace of Mozart for the Audi Cup tournament, but although they looked composed they slipped to two defeats.
Saints put out two different sides for each game in this tournament which as clearly being used as part of the preparation for the Europa League rather than any barometer of the teams weakness and strengths.
In the first game Saints were edged out 1-0 by Valencia and then in the second 2-0 by hosts Red Bull Salzburg in two games that Saints despite each side containing a mixture of experience and youth they still looked comfortable on the ball.
But in both games they looked a little toothless going forward, Juanmi looked like he could be a handful although he is going to have to beef up a bit for the more physical challenge of the Premier, Cedric Soares appears to be the real deal at right back, although Martina playing at left back in the second game looked a little rusty although in fairness that could be more about only just arriving at the club a week ago.
Maarten Steklenburg looked good against Red Bull and made some quality saves.
In the first game Saints appeared every bit of a match for Valencia, but in the second they were definitely second best.
So not a lot of questions answered in either game for the 100 or so Saints fans present at the Red Bull Arena, but Ronald Koeman will be glad to get a good workout for his squad in what is very early days in the pre season preparation.
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