Ronald Koeman believes there might be a few bruised egos in the Saints squad after their team bonding trip to Davos – but feels it has set them up for a good run-in.

The Saints boss led a trip to the snowy Swiss city where his squad tried their hand at ice hockey, Nordic skiing and had four days together as a unit.

The idea was to get away and galvanise the squad for the final ten games of the season, which beings with tomorrow’s trip to Premier League leaders and title favourites Chelsea.

Koeman insists it was a success.

He joked: “Maybe bad for the confidence, because I saw some players skating and I don’t think it was good for their confidence.

“It was something totally different and we chose Davos because of the relationship between Southampton and Switzerland, Katharina the owner and the chairman (Ralph Krueger) is there.

“It was totally different to lying on the beach on Dubai. If they like to go to Dubai, they can go in the summer.

“We did some activities which was great. Some players were sceptical before going, but everybody was happy with what we did.

“It was a good week, but playing football is totally different.

“Always you know if you stay together the whole day and do some different activities there is more time to talk.

“Players had free time and you see characters of players.

“They did a great job because they achieved everything what we did and it was a great atmosphere there.”

Thankfully there were no fresh injuries, despite the mishaps on the ice, but significantly Jay Rodriguez joined the squad for the trip.

Koeman remains optimistic that Rodriguez may return before the end of the season and felt it was important for him to be involved.

“That was the reason to take Jay with the group, to give him that feeling back to be part of the group,” he said.

“He’s doing well, he’s progressing, but he’s still to be part of the squad of the team.

“He needs more time for that and he will get more time for that.

“Most important is the health of the player.”

Another player for whom the break may have been well timed is Graziano Pelle.

The Italian striker has gone eleven Premier League games without a goal.

“Always most important is focus in your play and in your role in the team and don’t focus too much on scoring goals because that don’t help you to score goals,” advised Koeman.

“I don’t expect something different.

“He had some problems with skating, he had to learn, and we know it’s always a question for strikers the difficulty to score because they need and they like to score.

“I think don’t focus too much on that part of football and keep the spirit ... your role in the team is the most important.”