After a week of International games for our first team and academy players it's time to analyse their time away from the club and what awaits them in the next couple of weeks.
Saints rank 11th - tied with Newcastle - in the Premier League standings for most first team International players called up during September 2022. We had 10 first team players on International duty - that includes also players who played for their countries' U20/U19 side.
Our 10 players who got called up were:
Gavin Bazunu (Ireland)
Our new first team goalkeeper played in both of Ireland's Nations league games, proving to be a very good player even without keeping a clean sheet (unfortunately). Gavin faced fellow Scottish teammates Ché Adams and Stuart Armstrong in the first game, with Scotland winning the game 2-1 thanks to a late penalty kick. The second game was a dramatic 3-2 win against Armenia.
Juan Larios (Spain U19)
Recently arrived from Man City's academy, the 18-year-old Spanish left-back has played in both of Spain's U19 squad September games, keeping two clean sheets. The first game ended 5-0 for Spain against Albania and the second ended in a 0-0 draw against Belgium. Juan showed some glimpses of class down the left wing, making some good passes and runs. I think he is a very exciting player, from what I've seen of him up to now he's kind of giving me Livramento vibes!
Armel Bella-Kotchap (Germany)
The new centre-back - and our best player since the start of the season in my opinion - got called up to Germany's senior squad for the first time at only 20 years old. In the first game against Hungary (0-1 loss) he was named as a substitute on the bench. A few days later he made a short cameo off the bench in the last minutes of the game against England (3-3 draw), making his senior International debut. He undoubtedly deserved this call-up, now we have to wait and see if he gets to play in the World Cup!
Mohammed Salisu (Ghana)
The moment for Salisu to play at International level finally came when he got called up for the first time to play for Ghana. He made his debut against Brazil coming on as a substitute at half-time. The game ended 3-0 for the Brazilians, but Mo still got a clean sheet for the 45 minutes he played. It was great to see him play against the likes of Neymar and Vinicius Jr, surely a moment he will treasure for a long time. His full debut came against Nicaragua, where Ghana won 1-0 and Salisu kept a clean sheet once again.
James Ward-Prowse (England)
Unfortunately, even though getting called up, Prowsey didn't play for England in their two Nations League matches against Italy (1-0 loss, Ward-Prowse on the bench) and Germany (3-3 draw, absent from the matchday squad). It would be a shame if James gets left out of the England squad for the World Cup for the second time (first time was for the Euros), but sadly it's likely it will happen again. He has done so much for Saints and it's a shame he doesn't get "rewarded" for it.
Stuart Armstrong & Ché Adams (Scotland)
The Scottish duo played a part in every game for their country in the Nations League, helping them achieve 1st place in the group, which means they got promoted to League A for the next Nations League campaign. The first game ended in a 3-0 win for Scotland against Ukraine (both Armstrong and Adams played 76 minutes), the second was another win for the Scots against Ireland and fellow Saints teammate Gavin Bazunu, which ended 2-1 (Armstrong played 59 minutes and Adams 5). Scotland also played a third game, against Ukraine once again, this time ending in a 0-0 draw (Armstrong played 18 minutes and Adams 79), which was enough for them to clinch promotion. Even though the two Saints didn't get on the scoresheet, they looked very good on and off the ball, playing some important minutes for their country.
Mohamed Elyounoussi (Norway)
Moi played quite well in both of Norway's Nations League games. The first against Slovenia (2-1 loss), where he played 70 minutes also assisting in-form Man City striker Erlin Haaland. The second game was against Serbia and former Saints player Dušan Tadić, where Norway lost 0-2 and Elyounoussi played 57 minutes.
Moussa Djenepo (Mali)
Moussa only played in the first game for Mali, a friendly against Zambia (which ended 1-0 to Mali and Djenepo played 78 minutes). He was absent from the matchday squad of their second friendly, once again against Zambia, which got abandoned due to rain water-logging the pitch just after 17 minutes.
Samuel Edozie (England U20)
Sam in my opinion had the best overall performance during this International break, playing in all three games of the Costa Cálida Cup for the England U20 squad. The first game ended in a 3-0 win for England against Chile, where Sam played 70 minutes and scored a goal. The second game was against a strong U20s Morocco side, but England once again managed to win, this time by 2 goals to 1 (Edozie played 19 minutes). The third and final game was against Australia, where the young Three Lions showed their class by winning 3-0 (Edozie played 75 minutes, earned a penalty and scored a goal). During these matches Sam showed how dangerous he can be skilfully. He is a player that can cause problems to the opponent's defence with his superb dribbling and fast pace.
Now that the International topic has been covered, let's take a look at what's next for our players...
Saints started off the season decently... we've won 2, drawn 1 and lost 4 (three of which were tight games where in my opinion neither team deserved to win) games this season. We got 6 points from our last five games (2W 3L) and at the moment we sit 14th in the league. Now that some of our players enjoyed a good spell away from the club, it may change the attitude of some of them - in a positive way - and things might improve.
Previewing our next three games
Everton (H) - Sat 1st October @ 3pm
This is a game that could go either way. Everton are starting to get into their rhythm, getting 7 points from their last 5 games (unbeaten), winning their last match against West Ham. We currently sit on the same number of points as Everton (7) but they're above us on goal difference. This is definitely a winnable game, but we have to show up if we want to get the three points. Everton have a number of injured players including Nathan Patterson (who, unfortunately for Everton, got injured on International duty after playing really well for the Toffees in recent games), Ben Godfrey, Andros Townsend, Mason Holgate and Yerry Mina. Jordan Pickford and Dominic Calvert-Lewin remain doubts for Everton, they could still feature on Saturday but it's unlikely. These injuries could give us some sort of "boost", and we have to take advantage of it. For Saints instead, Tino Livamento and Romeo Lavia are still set to miss out with the ex-Man City midfielder likely to return for the West Ham game. We all expect to see a marked and improved performance from the lads and I'm confident that if we play like we did against Chelsea we can get the win.
My preferred lineup: Bazunu, Larios, Salisu, Bella-Kotchap, Walker-Peters, Diallo, Ward-Prowse, S. Armstrong, Aribo, Edozie, Adams.
Man City (A) - Sat 8th October @ 3pm
Manchester City vs Southampton, or Manchester City vs Manchester City B team, however you want to call it... A very tough game, but you never know with Saints. Last season and also the beginning of this season we've proved we can compete against the big sides. We would definitely have to be playing at our best to get a result against an unbeaten City side who sit 2nd currently in the Premier League. A player who is causing problems to defences this season is Erling Haaland, an unstoppable goal-machine, who scored 14 goals in 9 games across all competitions this season. We're going to have to rely on Salisu and Bella-Kotchap for the 90 minutes in my opinion... So yeah, it's gonna be a tough one!
West Ham (H) - Sun 16th October @ 2pm
This should not be a hard game for us considering how West Ham started the season off (18th, 4pts), but realistically speaking it's one of the games we usually end up losing. It's funny to think we have a chance against the top teams but we'll probably end up losing against the teams that sit below us in the league. My impression is that we kind of give it for granted that we should beat a certain team and in the end - with this sort of attitude - we end up giving the three points away. Maybe we should treat every side like a big side... would that work? Like I said for the game against Everton, unless we don't show up we can't expect to get anything out of the game.
I hoped you liked this article, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!