A couple of seasons ago it was hard to see past Rickie Lambert as the man to win a game for Saints in their first season back in the Premier League, but now their is a plethora of potential match winners.

Last season was considered by many to be one of the most exciting seasons ever by some Saints supporters, but as good as it was it was predictable and Saints match winners were fairly predictable as well, but now under Ronald Koeman there are a lot more options and potential heroes and that doesn't even include the injured Jay Rodriguez who was last seasons top scorer.

Most obvious choice as the main threat would be Graziano Pelle, he took a game or two to get his eye in but up at West Ham he showed he has what it takes to lead the line, not only scoring a decent predators goal with a clinical finish but having another good effort wrongly ruled out, if he keeps that form up thoughout the season he will soon become a fine striker for Saints.

Shane Long has been considered by some to be overpriced, but for a man with his goal scoring record that equates to a 10-12 goal striker per season in the Premier League on a goals per game ration, we have paid the going rate for a striker with that record, Lukaku got 15 for Everton last season on loan and it cost them £28 million to sign him, Jay Rodriguez got 15 and has been the subject of a bid from Spurs for £25 million, Danny Wellbeck didnt even get 10 and cost Arsenal £16 million, Shane Long might just turn out to be value for money.

Dusan Tadic already looks like he could overshadow Adam Lallana already he has a couple of assists to his name in the Premier and his goal scoring record in Holland was superb, if he replicates that for Saints then watch out the rest of the league.

Sadio Mane again comes with a great record albeit in the Austrian League, he is an unknown quantity in the Premier, but we will soon find out just how good he is and if that is 3/4 of his record for Red Bull Salzburg then that will be a hell of a lot.

Add the returning Rodriguez and we have five players capable of getting into double figures during the season, compared to last seasons 3, when you also bear in mind that a fair proportion of Rickie's goals came from either the penalty spot or free kicks and already James Ward Prowse has shown that he could be the new free kick expert and we may have yet another new kid on the block who could add some much needed firepower from central midfield.

Not to mention Morgan Schneiderlin last season he only got two goals, he equalled that in the West ham game alone, the new style of play might just suit him and give him more opportunities to score and that could be the key to success, not only have we doubled our fire power options in the attacking positions, but the central midfielders are starting to score as well and that could just turn a few defeats into draws and a few draws into wins, something we didnt do often enough next season.

All in all its looking like an even more exciting season than last and we have options that mean that if one of our attacking options isnt firing on all cylinders then we have others who can come good, something we did not have last season.

Photo: Action Images

saintmark1976 added 22:44 - Sep 11 Nick,whilst I usually agree with your posts you are beginning to worry me a little lately. You do appear to be getting a little carried away with the expectation of it all rather than the facts. With respect we lost at Liverpool,drew against a very average West Brom and beat what was, by all accounts,an extremely poor West Ham. Let's just wait and see if the new guys are better than the old,which I hope they are of course.

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SaintNick added 23:12 - Sep 11 I am getting carried away with the expectation, but i think you are being harsh on the teams saints have played, Liverpool destroyed spurs, West brom have only been beaten by an inform Swansea side, Wesh Ham werent good but how much of that was due to us, the week before they destroyed palace. I agree we still need to wait and see, but I do think we have a lot more options now which was what the article was about rather than claiming each individual is better than last seasons attacking options

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aceofthebase added 07:46 - Sep 12 It is going to be a good season, and you forgot to mention that we have the best Dutch manager in the premiership.
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brady100 added 09:48 - Sep 12 Again I'm not sure why we can't mention Tadic et al in a positive light without making silly comments about previous players. I admire your positivity but it's disrespectful and ludicrous to believe Tadic is anywhere near 'overshadowing' Lallana after 3 games, despite his promise. Lallana was one of the top 6 players in the division last year, a huge achievement for a player from our club. Lets focus on the players we have now and stop comparing them to those that have left.

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slynch added 10:03 - Sep 12 I think, Mane has scored 2 out of 2 in the African International Competition on atm. Pretty equal to the EPL? And be careful Nick, you're beginning to sound optimistic, that might upset a a few?
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