Southampton: Adam Blackmore analysis – Saints ‘miles off’ last season’s standards in loss at Watford

My biggest nagging worry is that while the expulsion from the play-off final in May has become a galvanising factor for fans and players alike, is there a quietly bigger impact on that let-down for the players in the back of their minds?

Has it punctured their resolve slightly knowing they have got to go uphill again for nine months to get where they want to be? Will bad moments and defeats be magnified, create doubt and test willpower?

Players love a manager who makes them better and plots their path to victories, and Eckert has done a job that nobody thought when he was appointed.

But having forgiven him for costing them a chance of the Premier League, would players doubt him and give him short shrift if they get things so wrong again?

While he is masterminding wins, it is great, but do we think playing Leo Scienza at 10 and moving Lewis Dobbin out left on Sunday after spending all pre-season the other way around made them feel good?

Eckert defended it, but Tessem was right – playing Scienza in behind took away his best weapon and his biggest threat. They were so much better when he moved out wide again and Finn Azaz came on.

Southampton fans have been incredibly resilient in the wake of this tumultuous summer and many have decided to get behind Tonda once he was backed by chairman Dragan Solak.

Good, the club needs to move forward, but I have seen enough football to know that players and fans will be the first to remember ‘Spygate’ if Saints keep performing like they did at Watford, and those supporters who still feel the head coach should have been sacked will have their voice again.

Hopefully all my worries are just that and they turn up for the first home game against Stoke City on Saturday, show their class and win.

They need to, and Eckert needs them to.