Eckert pleased with Saints' sharpness
Tonda Eckert was pleased with the sharpness of his Southampton players after seeing them overcome Eintracht Braunschweig in Germany.
Saints touched down on the day of the game to start a week-long training camp following an intense start to pre-season at Staplewood.
Eckert changed his entire XI at the interval in Braunschweig, giving 45 minutes to 22 players, as Damion Downs scored the only goal of the game in the first half.
“Really good, I think the boys looked very sharp, it could’ve been a couple of goals more,” the head coach reflected on the performance.
“We switched all the players at half time to give every player some minutes. I think 45 minutes was good today because the training week was tough, and especially on a travelling day.
“There will be games coming up where we increase the minutes, but for today it was perfect.”
Downs struck the winner 10 minutes before the break, racing on to Lewis Dobbin’s through ball and calmly rounding the goalkeeper before dummying the covering defender to walk the ball into the net with impressive confidence.
“It was a great ball through, the goalkeeper comes out a little bit early, but it was a great finish,” Eckert added.
“There’s still more to come, but the boys look good. We will stay overnight for one day, and then it’s going to be a travelling day [tomorrow].”
Saints will fly home after the final friendly of the trip against third-tier side SC Preuẞen Münster next Saturday.
