Matt Le Tissier has been reflecting on his opening day memories with Southampton, ahead of next weekend’s Premier League curtain-raiser.
Mauricio Pellegrino’s men start with two home clashes against Swansea City and West Ham United and Le Tissier hopes that Saints can begin to build some early momentum on what was always a special day in the calendar during his playing days.
“The start of the season was a relief! Especially for me because pre-season training wasn’t the greatest part of the year as I did struggle a little bit in that department,” Le Tissier said.
“Once the first game of the season came around it was a signal to think ‘ok the games are starting now, training won’t be as hard during the season and I can enjoy it now’.
“That first day of the season is always pretty special coming back after a few months off to getting that buzz of having a full stadium. The players will be pretty excited come 3pm a week on Saturday.
“A couple of home wins would really set the tone. It gives the fans that buzz for the rest of the season and makes sure they keep coming back week in, week out.”
He added: “The strangest opening day one for me was when we played Nottingham Forest on the opening day of the season in 1995 when Dave Merrington was the manager.
“I scored a hat-trick so you’d have thought that would have been quite a nice memory but we lost the game 4-3.
“It was two penalties and a free-kick and yet I was leaving the field disappointed so it wasn’t a great feeling.”
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