Dusan Tadic has proven to be a very adept replacement for Adam Lallana, after the England international departed Southampton to join Liverpool in the summer.
Much was made of Southampton’s summer transfer window, where a mass exodus of players caused the squad to look depleted.
The core of the Saints team which had led them to such success during the 2013/14 season was torn apart as Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Calum Chambers, Luke Shaw and Dejan Lovren all moved away from St. Mary’s.
Mauricio Pochettino, the manager who masterminded their club’s highest Premier League finish, also departed and concerns about how the South-Coast club would fare emerged.
It has not taken long for Southampton to put those fears to rest, though.
After a brilliant start, where the team have risen to third in the Premier League standings, talk around the club is about a Champions League place rather than a struggle against relegation.
Ronald Koeman, the new manager has made an admirable impression, but their summer additions have also done brilliantly to step-up to fill the vast voids left for them.
Nobody has been more impressive than Dusan Tadic, though. The Serbian midfielder has had to replace the heartbeat of Southampton’s team in Lallana, but he has stepped up to the challenge.
Lallana had guided the Saints up through the divisions, from League One, and their play revolved around his creativity, but Tadic is proving that he is talented enough to compensate for the loss of the man who left to join Liverpool this summer.
Indeed, the summer buy from FC Twente is actually outperforming the former Southampton star in two key areas.
| Position | Team | Season | Goal Assist | Chances created GAME | Passing Accuracy | Passes GAME | Dribbles GAME | Touches GAME | Shots GAME | Appearances | Mins Played | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Lallana | MF | Southampton | 2013-2014 | 6 | 1.8684210526316 | 84.641407307172% | 38.894736842105 | 3.3157894736842 | 60.605263157895 | 1.8421052631579 | 38 | 3100 |
| Dusan Tadic | MF | Southampton | 2014-2015 | 3 | 1.8571428571429 | 79.07949790795% | 34.142857142857 | 2.1428571428571 | 64.857142857143 | 2.4285714285714 | 7 | 590 |
| Adam Lallana | MF | Liverpool | 2014-2015 | 0 | 1 | 85.981308411215% | 26.75 | 2 | 44.75 | 1.25 | 4 | 286 |
Tadic is showing more of a goalscoring instinct by taking shots more regularly than his predecessor, and he is also getting on the ball more regularly than Lallana.
Tadic is also on course to make more assists than Lallana did so for the side last season, and has made a more impressive start to life at his new club than the England international has at Anfield.
Lallana has struggled for top form with the Reds, and unless he can up his game to beyond the level he was playing at at St. Mary’s then Southampton’s business in the summer looks to have been very shrewd.
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