MANY football commentators — including our esteemed sports editor — weren’t feeling too optimistic about Southampton’s chance of improving on their attractive and impressive 2013-14 form.

After their promotion to the top flight in 2012 the Saints defied the expected fate of many newly promoted sides to finish a comfortable 14th before rocketing up to 8th in their second Premier League season.

Yet after the loss of Argentinian manager Mauricio Pochettino to Tottenham and the swoop of the Premier League big guns, who poached a host of the south coast side’s rising stars, many questioned their chance of survival at the top.

While Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Rickie Lambert, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers all departed for pastures new, the club crucially held on to key duo Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodriguez — despite repeated attempts to prize them away.

Incoming Dutch manager Ronald Koeman wasted no time in spending the influx of cash from player sales bringing with him striker Graziano Pelle who had scored 23 goals in 28 games from former club Feyenoord.

The Italian didn’t let his boss down netting 12 in his debut Premier League season despite a 15 game dry spell in the new year — matching Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero.

Pelle followed the arrival of Dusan Tadic from FC Twente and they were joined by goalkeeper Fraser Forster from Celtic among others.

The host of new signings took no time settling in and quickly confounded Southampton’s critics powering them into the top-half of the table.

After a strong start that saw the side winning 11 of their first 14 games in all competitions, they started the new year in fourth place.

With a stunning 8-0 victory against Sunderland, a home win against Arsenal, an impressive away win against Manchester United — with Schneiderlin pulling the strings — and twice holding eventual champions Chelsea to 1-1 draws, the St Mary’s faithful had a lot to be pleased with from a summer that looked so bleak.

But the south-coast side will rue their second half of the season due to inconsistency, the over-reliance on goal-machine Pelle — which was exposed when his form dipped — and the tragic loss of goalkeeper Forster to injury that saw the unlikely lads fall out of Champions League contention after spending half the season in the top four.

Despite this dip Koeman’s team still achieved the city’s highest-ever league finish, coming seventh with 60 points — also clinching a place in the Europa League third qualifying round.

The two-time manager of the month now faces a battle to keep sought-after right back Nathaniel Clyne and key midfielder Schneiderlin. If he loses the the duo, the Dutchman will have to look to the transfer market for solid replacements.

Though he has signed Juanmi from Malaga to complement Pelle and Cedric Soares from Sporting Lisbon if Clyne does decide to leave.

A goalkeeper to fill in for injured golden glove runner-up Forster (out until the new year) will also be on the shopping list.

However with a top quality manager, the promise of European football and without the mass exodus of last summer, Southampton’s ability to attract players is strong and their future in the league is more than healthy.