Black: Players' attitude has been first-class

Assistant boss Black moved to St Mary’s with new manager Puel, and fellow first-team coach Pascal Plancque, about a month ago.

Since then, they have been hard at work implementing their ideas and getting the team ready for the start of the new season.

Black explained that the players have been incredibly open to the coaches’ methods and vision.

"I've been mightily impressed by their attitude,” he told Southampton’s official YouTube channel.

“Their attitude's first-class and it's certainly not surprised me why they finished where they did last year, purely on looking at their attitude, their endeavour, their work-rate, their desire to go that little extra bit, their desire to do those little things that make the difference.

“I've been really impressed by that, and hopefully we can together put a competitive Southampton team out.”