Southampton ended their Premier League campaign with a one all draw with former champions Manchester United at St Mary's Stadium. Rickie Lambert got the goal. Having already secured a highly impressive eighth placed finish to the season a few games previous, there was little but pride at stake for Mauro Pochettino's men. This season can only be viewed as a major success for the Saints. It was Pochettino's first full season at the helm and after adding some real quality to the squad in Dejan Lovren and Victor Wanyama there was plenty of optimism at the club for the year ahead. Despite lofty targets of European spots within a season or two, the objective was still pretty straightforward - do not get involved in any relegation issues, and improve on a fourteenth place finish. In that light, breaking into the top ten and having eighth place wrapped up with games to spare is quite an achievement. Wanyama was a key figure until his season was interrupted by a serious injury. Goalkeeper Artur Boruc was an inspirational figure in many games, and but for injury to him they may well have had a real chance of finishing above Man Utd or Tottenham Hotspur. Full back Luke Shaw and midfielder Adam Lallana stole many of the headlines due to their youth and the fact that talented and technical English players are still a rarity. Given how successful Pochettino has been in a short space of time, it is no surprise that he is being linked to jobs at bigger clubs. Southampton may well have a fight on their hands to keep a hold of him. On top of that, the likes of Shaw and Lallana in particular are very much coveted by the top four. How next season goes will depend very much on how this issues play out over the next few months.
