ROLL UP, roll up!

All aboard the Claude Puel emotional rollercoaster!

Now departing St Mary's heading for Wembley stadium!

Roll up, roll up!

It's certainly been a season of delightful highs and crushing lows for Claude Puel in his first season as Southampton FC manager.

Saints supporters have experienced the full range of emotions in 2016/17 - never really knowing what lies in store for them from one week to the next.

And never really knowing which version of Puel's Saints will turn up.

Will it be the one capable of shackling free-scoring Liverpool over two legs of a League Cup semi final? The one capable of entering a footballing cathedral such as Anfield and stunning the home fans?

Or will it be the one who have turned in a handful of drab displays, sentencing fans to some kind of 90-minute long sporting purgatory?

Who really knows?

Aboard the Claude Puel emotional rollercoaster, anything is possible.

Here, the Daily Echo charts the highs and the lows of the Frenchman's fascinating first few months at St Mary's.

Fans have complained that the football has been dull at times.

Possibly so, but the season - one of Saints' most gloriously inconsistent campaigns in living memory - certainly hasn't been.

  • LOW

Aug 27: Saints 1 Sunderland 1

Having already failed to beat Watford at St Mary's on the opening day, Saints required a late leveller from sub Jay Rodriguez to avoid an embarrassing home loss against the Black Cats.

  • HIGH

Sept 15: Saints 3 Sparta Prague 0

After collecting just two points from four league games, Claude Puel was in desperate need of a first win. And thanks to a first half double from European debutant Charlie Austin, and a late third from Jay Rodriguez, he got just that as Saints took an early foothold on their Europa League group.

  • HIGH

Sept 25: West Ham 0 Saints 3

A fourth straight league and cup win - all with clean sheets - was delivered through goals from Charlie Austin, Dusan Tadic and James Ward-Prowse.

After beating Swansea, this win made it back-to-back league successes - something Saints have been unable to match since.

  • LOW

Oct 20: Inter Milan 1 Saints 0

On a historic night in the San Siro, Claude Puel again leaves skipper Jose Fonte out of his starting XI, while top scorer Charlie Austin is on the bench and Nathan Redmond left out of the squad altogether.

Saints still enjoy the bulk of the possession but fail to take their chances and concede relatively late on.

  • HIGH

Oct 26: Saints 1 Sunderland 0

Club record signing Soufiane Boufal, who had missed the start of his first season at Saints due to injury, celebrates his first start with a stunning 20-yard wonder strike against Sunderland in the League Cup.

  • HIGH

Nov 3: Saints 2 Inter Milan 1

Saints come from behind to record a famous victory against one of the most famous names in European football.

Trailing at half-time, Virgil van Dijk levels on 64 minutes before Yuto Nagatomo needlessly puts through his own goal five minutes later.

  • LOW

Nov 6: Hull 2 Saints 1

The joy of beating Inter does not last long as Saints lose to a Hull side who entered the game having picked up only one point from their previous eight league games.

Charlie Austin puts Saints ahead early on but they concede twice in three second half minutes.

  • LOW

Nov 24: Sparta Prague 1 Saints 0

Jose Fonte is again left out and Charlie Austin is again on the bench as Saints turn in an insipid Europa League display to lose in the Czech Republic.

  • HIGH

Nov 27: Saints 1 Everton 0

Saints sentence Ronald Koeman to defeat on his first return to St Mary's as Everton manager.

Claude Puel throws in teenager Josh Sims for his first ever start and is rewarded when the rookie provides the assist for what turns out to be Charlie Austin's first minute winner.

  • HIGH

Nov 30: Arsenal 0 Saints 2

First half goals from Jordy Clasie, his first for the club, and Ryan Bertrand, send Saints through to what is only the club's third ever League Cup semi final - and their first since 1987.

  • LOW

Dec 3: C Palace 3 Saints 0

Palace went into the game having lost six league games in a row, yet they still easily beat Saints thanks to goals from Christian Benteke (2) and James Tomkins. It is one of only two Palace home league wins all season.

  • LOW

Dec 8: Saints 1 Hapoel 1

The worst night of the season so far, as Saints not only crash out of the Europa League - conceding a late goal to previously unfancied Israeli outfit Hapoel - but also losing top scorer Charlie Austin to a serious shoulder injury.

  • HIGH

Dec 17: Cherries 1 Saints 3

Desperately in need of a morale booster, Claude Puel gets one at the Vitality Stadium thanks to a Jay Rodriguez brace and one from Ryan Bertrand.

  • LOW

Dec 31: Saints 1 West Brom 2

For the fourth time this season in the league, Saints lose after taking the lead - something which had previously happened at Arsenal and Hull and at home to Tottenham three days earlier.

Shane Long scores his first Saints goal since last May, but the Baggies are level within two minutes.

  • LOW

Jan 2: Everton 3 Saints 0

Saints are well beaten by Ronald Koeman's men at Goodison Park, a defeat which comes just a few days after executive director of football Les Reed reveals that skipper Jose Fonte has handed in a transfer request.

  • HIGH

Jan 11: Saints 1 Liverpool 0

Nathan Redmond gives Saints a League Cup semi final first leg lead against Liverpool, who had only lost two of their previous 25 league and cup games all season.

  • LOW

Jan 22: Saints 3 Leicester 0

Days after selling Jose Fonte to West Ham, the joy of beating Leicester is overshadowed by key centre half Virgil van Dijk is seriously injured against Leicester.

  • HIGH

Jan 25: Liverpool 0 Saints 1

Against all the odds, Saints reach only their second League Cup final - not only managing to keep out the Premier League's top goalscorers, but then snatching an injury time winner through Shane Long.

  • LOW

Jan 28: Saints 0 Arsenal 5

The joy of reaching only the club's fifth Wembley cup final is quickly forgotten. Claude Puel makes 10 changes for the FA Cup home tie with Arsenal, fielding a young and inexperienced XI. Saints are 3-0 down by half-time and eventually suffer the club's heaviest ever post-war FA Cup defeat. Former Saint Theo Walcott hits a hat-trick.

  • LOW

Jan 31: Swansea 2 Saints 1

Having already lost at lowly Hull and Palace, Saints are beaten 2-1 at another relegation threatened club - one which had lost their last three home games 4-1, 3-0 and 4-0.

  • LOW

Feb 4: Saints 1 West Ham 3

For the fifth time this season, Saints take the lead in a league game and lose. In almost a carbon copy of their defeat to West Brom, Saints concede an equaliser shortly after taking the lead and go on to lose.

  • HIGH

Manolo Gabbiadini, having previously scored on his debut, nets twice on his second appearance as Saints romp to a 4-0 win at rock bottom Sunderland.

Playing 4-2-3-1 for the first time - the system both his predecessors at St Mary's favoured - Puel is rewarded with Saints' joint-biggest Premier League away win - matching the 4-0 success at Leicester in December 2001.