Jay Rodriguez, Sadio Mané and Shane Long scored two goals apiece as Southampton coasted into the fourth round of the Capital One Cup at MK Dons.
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“I’m very pleased because I think we showed our qualities from the beginning of the game”, he told reporters. “We kept the spirit in the team and did some good pressing in the first 30 minutes”.
The Dutchman added: “I expect a tough game because for them it’s a great opportunity to play a Premier League team”.
“He played for the biggest clubs and was a coach at the biggest clubs, so I’m very happy and can’t wait to keep improving”.
The Saints are playing their first game in this year’s competition against the Dons, and Koeman insists that he wants to see his troops embark on a positive run.
“That can be, one or two more changes than normally we did a year ago but that’s all about the competition that we have in the squad”, he said.
As for Bertrand, he completed 45 minutes in the recent Under 21 game on Monday evening and having been out since last season with an injury, it’s expected he will build on his fitness by getting some time on the pitch tonight.
Koeman said: “He’s been out for a long time and it’s also hard because he was out from May and that means no pre-season and a pre-season for a player is a very important part of the season”.
McFadzean’s bad night continued as he cut out Juanmi’s cross for Rodriguez, only for his clearance bounce back off Long – who knew nothing about it – and loop into the net.
Koeman, who was impressed by the returning Victor Wanyama, also expressed his pleasure at the performance of debutant Virgil van Dijk following his move from Celtic late in the transfer window.
Bertrand’s time out of the squad could be coming to an end though after he came through 45 minutes for Southampton’s Under-21s as they beat Reading’s youngsters 5-2 on Monday unscathed.
‘He was the first time part of the training session with the whole team.
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