Despite Southampton’s disappointing start to the Premier League season there have been a number of impressive individual performances so far.
The most obvious of these is the emergence of 18-year-old academy product Tyler Dibling who scored his first senior goal against Ipswich Town last time out in only his second league start.
Veteran Adam Lallana has shown he will be key for Southampton this season since building up his fitness too, whilst Flynn Downes is growing with each week and wore the captain’s armband for the first time for the Saints against Ipswich.
Russell Martin knows there is plenty of talent in the Southampton ranks and it is his job to find the right combination to get the club a first Premier League win of the season.
That could come against Bournemouth on Monday night and one player in particular could be key to victory over the Cherries.
Francis Benali a big fan of Southampton’s Yukinari Sugawara
That player is right-back Yukinari Sugawara, who is one of two players Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has named as a threat to his side.
Sugawara has made a seamless transition to the Premier League after his £6 million signing from AZ Alkmaar in the summer and is above Kyle Walker-Peters in the right-back peking order currently.
Francis Benali played over 300 games at full-back for Southampton and he has been left very impressed by what he has seen from Sugawara so far.
Benali wrote in his Daily Echo column: “While Dibling has been getting all the praise, I also wanted to draw some attention to Yukinari Sugawara, who I think has been excellent so far this season.”
Benali added: “What strikes me most about Sugawara is his selflessness. I’ve spotted him make countless overlap runs designed to draw the attention of defenders.
“He’s made those runs even though he knows he isn’t going to receive the ball. It takes a certain type of person who is willing to do that for the team.”
Benali claims that Sugawara reminds him of former teammate Paul Telfer, explaining: “His willingness to do the hard yards reminds me of Paul Telfer. He used to overlap Fabrice Fernandes all the time and not receive the ball.
“When watching that, I used to joke that I’d expect to receive the ball much more often if it was me making those runs.”
Sugawara one of first names on Southampton team sheet
Sugawara will again line up on the right of the defence against Bournemouth on Monday night.
The Japan international was likely signed as a Walker-Peters replacement with the 27-year-old linked with a summer move away, but he has now proven undroppable despite Walker-Peters staying.
Walker-Peters had been playing on the left of the defence as Martin looked to accommodate both right-backs, but Charlie Taylor was brought into the side against Ipswich at the expense of Walker-Peters.
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This decision was made to give Southampton better balance and it was one that paid dividends as the Saints did look much more comfortable despite a last-gasp equaliser making it one point instead of three.
With that in mind, it would be no surprise at all to see the same tactic used against Bournemouth and Walker-Peters may just have to settle for a place on the bench for the time being.