Southampton: 5 Ways That It's All Gone Right This Season

4. Identifying Weak Areas And Judging Transfers Accordingly

Thanks to the Markus Liebherr Trust, Southampton have had a fairly hefty transfer budget since their return to the Premier League, breaking their own transfer record on multiple occasions. This summer they spent a total of £36 million, placing them as the league's 6th biggest spenders this summer. However, spending big is not, in itself, a guarantee of success. For example Cardiff and Norwich also spent big and currently find themselves in 14th and 15th respectively. Even bottom club Crystal Palace splashed out to the tune of £16.5 million. Every team needs to spend in order to remain competitive in the Premier League. Southampton's success in the transfer market has been in identifying the specific areas of the team that need strengthening, finding suitable targets and focusing on them at whatever cost. It sounds a pretty simple concept, but just look at the truly big spenders like Chelsea, Man City or Tottenham and you will see the likes of £20-30 million attacking players like Willian, Jovetic or Lamela stuck on the sidelines as their teams already have plenty of successful players in these roles. All while failing to invest in their problem areas. Equally importantly, Southampton avoided spreading themselves too thin and disrupting the things that did work last time with excessive numbers of new arrivals. Sunderland, who finished just two points behind Southampton last year, bought 15 new players this summer. Southampton bought 3. This year's Saints are already 15 points clear of the Black Cats. It's worth noting that by this time last year Saints, second from bottom, had scored an impressive 15 times. This season they have scored the exact same amount. The difference is that they made it to that total having conceded an enormous 29 goals last term and a meagre 5 this time round. It's obvious, then, that they needed greater defensive strength and reliability and they focused their transfer activity on that, adding centre back Dejan Lovren and tough defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama. Lovren, costing £8.5 million, could well make a case for the Premier League's signing of the season. Commanding in defence, with good positioning sense and confidence on the ball, Lovren is the kind of cultured defender that many clubs would love to have on their books. Not only is he a centre back of the highest quality, but Lovren has lifted the game of those around him. Last season Jose Fonte looked well out of his depth at this level, but he has blossomed in partnership with Lovren and with Wanyama to shield them. Dani Osvaldo, the mecurial Italian forward who became Saints record signing when arriving from Roma for £15 million, has made less of a difference, but that is partly due to injury and the excellent form of Rodriguez keeping him from establishing himself in the team.