Southampton Do Have Attacking Options

We showed against Reading that if necessary we can still produce the goals to win a game when Rickie is not playing.

Lee Barnard and David Connolly gave us a different dimension with their alternative to the usual Lambert and sometimes one other.

Considering that we had, Lambert himself missing, Adam Lallana and Jason Puncheon along with Morgan Schneiderlin out of the midfield, and Frazer Richardson missing in defence, we did well for most of the match against Reading.

Lee Barnard is happy with the way pre-season has gone and is pleased with the way that his partnership with David Connolly is shaping up.

Before this pre-season the pair hadn't shared much time together as Lambert was almost always the main striker.

Lee says that David is very intelligent and an easy player to work alongside. He anticipates several good chances being made as Connolly makes options available all the time with his movement and skill with the ball.

Having had a good pre-season Lee feels that he is fit and strong and really raring to go. Though the initial training regime was very tough Lee is confident that he is going to have a good season.

We have three good strikers at the club and whilst Rickie will always be missed when unavailable it is good that the other two have shown that they can work well together as well.

All in all, though we have a few players out at the moment there is still no cause for alarm. The good ship Southampton still seems to be sailing forward majestically.

Time now to start looking forward to Plymouth Argyle.

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