It was a case of another opening day disappointment for Saints as they failed to beat Watford, but there were plenty of plus points.
You could feel a mood of discontent in the crowd during the first half of this game, but then again that mood was there two years ago at the start of Ronald Koeman's reign, when after an opening day defeat at Liverpool we followed it up with a 0-0 draw against West Brom with Graziano Pelle getting stick from the fans from early in the game.
That should be a lesson to Saints fans that just because something isn't right straight away it doesn't mean that it is not going to be in a little time, in short Claude Puel has to be given that time to prove he is the man for the job and not be written off after 1 game as some seemed to be almost relishing doing.
The game started with Saints attempting to play a possession football game, Watford were countering it by pressing us hard and not giving us time on the ball, this in turn lead to us not being as sharp as we needed to be in the first 20 minutes or so.
Capoue opened the scoring with an unstoppable shot after a knock down at the far post set it up for him perfectly, it had caught Saints on the hop and we were caught ball watching, however it should be noted that this was the last serious effort the Hornets had on our goal.
Saints still enjoyed a lot of possession but they were struggling to create a lot of clear cut chances, after the goal they were ruffled but to their credit dug in and after the 20 minute mark Saints were in control although they were not penetrating enough.
After the break Saints looked better and more confident and Watford obviously could not keep up harrasing us and chasing the ball with the same energy as the first half.
Perhaps the turning point in the direction of the game was the introduction of Pierre Emile Hojbjerg, the Dane offered a more direct approach and it put Watford on the back foot.
Within minutes Saints were level when Nathan Redmond rifled home a shot, but Saints could not get a second in the last half hour even after the visitors were reduced to ten men with 15 minutes left.
The Negatives.
Claude Puel was a little too cautious for my liking, Hojbjerg should have started and Charlie Austin should have been brought on a lot sooner than he was, certainly when Watford went down to 10 men.
Saints need a back up central defender, Yoshida always has at least one mistake in him and this game was no exception when he laid a back pass short although Fraser Forster was alert enough to react.
Was the pre season good enough, it was disrupted when Koeman left, but I think we did not use it to its fullest, certainly in the first half we were struggling to adapt to a new style and the reality was that as a team we have not had enough practice playing it with most pre season games being mix and match.
We need to be more decisive and shoot more
The Plus Points.
Saints looked comfortable and able to combat a very physical Watford side early doors, they needed time to adapt to the new system but did so as the game went on, it gave hope that we can continue on our success.
We dominated the game, 66% possession, 24 shots against Watfords 5 and with 5 on target against Watfords 1, the number of shots was good, the number on target for us was poor.
The team spirit looked good, the players looked up for it and trying to raise the crowd.
The new signings all looked good additions to the squad
The Verdict
Not the best result, but not the worst either, Saints showed enough to suggest that they can have a good season and have the squad to do it, however Claude Puel needs to be less cautious, the fact that we gave Charlie Austin only 7 minutes and Jay Rodriguez none was puzzling, however the same questions were levelled at both of his predecessors in the past three seasons, they were given the benefit of the doubt so so should Puel.