Ronald Koeman made his first return to St. Mary’s since his controversial move to Merseyside over the summer and it wasn’t the happiest as his former club were comfortable winners in Sunday’s late kick-off.

Saints manager Claude Puel, who saw his side put in a poor performance in the Europa League against Sparta Prague on Thursday, handed a debut to academy graduate, Josh Sims with both Dusan Tadic and Sofiane Boufal missing from the squad.

Charlie Austin got the hosts off to a fantastic start heading home from point-blank range with just 41 seconds on the clock, with debutant Josh Sims getting the assist.

The rest of the first half, however, failed to live up to it’s opening seconds as, spare a few chances for either side, the game flattened.

Into the second half and it was still very much the same story, Southampton largely dominated and really should have added to their tally if it weren’t for Maarten Stekelenburg’s heroics or James Ward-Prowse’s poor touch in front of goal.

The result takes Saints back into the top half of the Premier League just two points off from the Toffees. Here are FIVE things we learnt from the clash…

Southampton need Cedric

The Portugal international, who has recently recovered from an injury lay-off, showed just how important he is to Claude Puel’s side as he was largely the provider for any successful move going forward.

The former Sporting Lisbon man had been replaced by Cuco Martina during his spell on the sidelines who, despite being impressive earlier in the season, was nowhere near his peer’s standards whilst deputising.

Virgil van Dijk will be off

Southampton fans are used to seeing their best players leave, but this one may hurt the most. The former Celtic may has been impressing ever since his arrival last summer and was once again against his former manager.

Calm, collected and skilful throughout most games the Netherlands international, who has reportedly drawn interest from the biggest sides in the Premier League, will more than likely not be on the south coast for much longer.

Ambition doesn’t always bring results

Ronald Koeman often cited a lack of ambition on Southampton’s half during his contract negotiations prior to his leaving as a factor in his departure. Whilst this may be true it did not seem to help on his return to St. Mary’s.

His side were poor and lacked creativity throughout and, whilst this will not bother him in the long term, he left his old stomping ground a little red-faced at the weekend.

The youngsters just keep coming

How do they do it? It was not long ago that we were talking about just how impressive Sam McQueen was for Saints on his Premier League debut and now, it is the turn of Josh Sims.

The youngster, who doesn’t even feature on the squad list of a matchday programme, look fearless and comfortable on his debut and received a standing ovation from the Saints fans when he was brought off for McQueen in the second half.

He can take pride in his debut and it is rather befitting that he put in such an impressive performance against Koeman, who has been criticised for ignoring the academy at Southampton during his tenure.

They really don’t like Koeman on the south coast

Despite all that the former Barcelona defender did for the Saints, he is not much liked around those parts any longer.
The Dutchman was seemingly untouchable when he held the reigns at St. Mary’s, however, the manor of his departure left a sour taste in the mouths of Saints fans, and they showed it upon his return.