Erwin Koeman admits it will be a difficult task for Saints to top their achievements of last season but insisted “we have to improve ourselves.”

Saints kick-off their new Premier League season tomorrow lunchtime as they travel to Newcastle, who play their first competitive game under new manager Steve McClaren.

Saints secured a victory at St James’ Park in the last campaign, one of many good results that saw them finish seventh in the top flight and qualify for European football.

It has certainly placed a lot of extra expectation on the squad, but with some players into their second season in England there is hope that it could get even better this time out, with the club also targeting a successful Europa League adventure too.

Erwin said: “Of course, some of them they know what the Premier League is like and you need every game, you need 100 per cent intensity or you lose games.

“We lost games last year against Sunderland, Leicester, and they played with more intensity than we did.

“We won a lot of games last year and we know how to play and we like to play on the same way.

“We have to improve ourselves because the expectations also in Southampton are higher than last year.”

Speaking of the prospect of finishing even higher he added: “It will be difficult but football is football.

“I think for us it’s very important to have a good level when we have the ball and we are deciding in that.

“If we have a sloppy day or we are not good enough in ball possession we get also problems, but we have to improve that.

“I think last year we played a lot of good games in that and that’s why in some games we made a lot of goals but we have some new players, some players are gone, so we have also again to rebuild our team.

“We are looking forward to Sunday how we are coming on the pitch.”

One of the keys to Saints’ success was how well they started last season.

Though they lost on the opening day to Liverpool, it was an encouraging performance and was quickly followed by a stellar run which gave them the platform to build from.

Erwin and the rest of the Saints squad are hoping for more of the same this time out, with two Europa League victories over Vitesse already in the bag to start things off.

“I think the difference is for Southampton the expectations are higher, more high than last year of course,” he reckoned.

“We try to play football, like we will, like we did last year.

“We have also some new players, they have to get used to the English Premier League. It’s different. We have some new players from Portugal and from Spain and from Holland and some of them they need time. That’s normal.

“Sunday we have to be there and we have to prepare ourselves for a tough game.”