Adam Lallana and Dani Osvaldo: Four awards and a Scudetto

Article by Samuel Wilkes

Follow e-Southampton on Twitter!

With one game to go in an eventful Premier League season, Southampton FC have handed out their annual awards.

Adam Lallana needed a forklift to carry his awards home as he won Goal of the Season, Player’s Player of the Season, Away Player of the Season and Fan’s Player of the Season. Terry Paine handed the President’s Award to Jack Cork, who has shown professionalism, skill and hard work to regain his place after being displaced at the beginning of the season by Victor Wanyama. Jake Hesketh deservedly picked up Scholar of the Year, if only for his Le Tissier-esque goal vs Pompey in the FA Youth Cup.

But what shone through in an event attended by the best and brightest of Saints past and present was the spirit. “Together as one” was first used by Nigel Adkins and despite the two parting company, the team continue to show this camaraderie. The players interviewed on the red carpet showed a genuine friendship and humour which has produced results on the pitch and some great clips on the training field (Lovren’s epic nutmeg being a personal favourite).

The sincere shock at Jay Rodriguez’s injury and the empathy for him missing the World Cup gave a great impression of the close-knit unit that been built.

There was one noticeable absence during the Goal of the Season celebrations. As Sky Sport’s Ed Chamberlain cheekily asked Adam Lallana, picking up his 3rd award, whether Dani Osvaldo’s goal was better, an awkward hush settled over the slightly tipsy crowd of fans, players and staff in the Mick Channon suite at St Marys.

The club’s record signing, the Depp-impersonating, Stones-loving enigma that is Pablo Daniel Osvaldo scored the best goal I have ever seen with my own eyes, shrugging off arguably the best defender in the Premier League and curling an intricate shot beyond England’s finest goalkeeper.

That the goal didn’t even make the top three (Lallana v Newcastle, JRod vs Fulham and Lallana vs Hull) shows the disdain in which Osvaldo is held by the Southampton faithful who voted.

Instead of appearing at the awards ceremony, he was front and centre of group selfies alongside Arturo Vidal and Carlos Tevez as Juventus claimed the Serie A title. Although reports from Italy suggest that Juve are impressed with his attitude, his nine league games with zero goals in return make the chances of Saints recouping any of the £12.8 million transfer fee seem as likely as Danny Fox making a tackle.

If the first job for Mauricio Pochettino when (not if, I am an eternal optimist) he signs a new contract is to keep Lallana, Shaw, Jay and Chambers at the club, his second must be to get rid of Osvaldo as quickly and as painlessly as possible. If other player who are not getting games like Gaston Ramirez, Jos Hooiveld and Maya Yoshida are keen to move then this can be accommodated. The problem with Osvaldo is that his antics threaten to disrupt the whole team ethos that has been built since the depths of League 1.

If he wants to know how it should be done, look no further than Lallana. A Southampton player since aged 12, from Premier League club to administration and the third tier and back again, to captain and winner of four club awards, an England cap and hopefully a spot in Roy Hodgson’s team, Adam Lallana is perfect role model for the club. Asked what he thought about the future of the club, he replied.

“It means the world to me, I want to keep progressing with the club”

See you back in red and white next season Ads.

© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football