Saints need to be more clinical up front, says Koeman

“He played for the biggest clubs and was a coach at the biggest clubs, so I’m very happy and can’t wait to keep improving”. [An away clean sheet] is always important, and I think little chances for West Brom only came from our mistakes.

Ronald Koeman’s side, who finished seventh last term, had a hard start to the 2015/16 campaign, picking up just two points from their first three matches, but overcame Norwich 3-0 at St Mary’s 12 days ago before the enforced hiatus.

Southampton were boosted by the arrival of Virgil van Dijk on deadline day and the former Celtic man put in an excellent performance on his debut.

“Not enough to score the goal”.

“Sometimes we make too hard choices in our final pass”.

The 24-year-old centre-back made his debut for the Saints against West Brom at The Hawthorns and gave a good account of himself.

“He has played at the highest level in the Champions League with Celtic and of course the Premier League is normally a stronger league than Holland and Scotland”.

“He was good in defending and we know that also one of his qualities is his passing from the back”.

When Ronald Koeman, one of the world’s most accomplished players during his stellar playing career, describes a fellow defender’s performance as “perfect”, you have to sit up and take notice.

He told Sky Sports: “We are a little bit disappointed because out of a lot of ball possession today we didn’t create enough”.

“He was very strong in defence and very comfortable on the ball”.

“I have obviously known about him for a long time. I just want to play and want to improve and enjoy as well”. “If he can play like he did today he will be impressive”.