Watson: Tadic is better than Lallana

The ex-Dell favourite believes the £12m Serbian is an “upgrade” on the England international who Saints sold to Liverpool for more than twice Tadic’s transfer fee in the summer.

Watson also admits Ronald Koeman has replaced Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren with better players.

“All the signings are upgrades on what we had,” said Watson.

“I would take Tadic over Lallana, I would take Pelle over Rickie Lambert, and I would take Toby (Alderweirald) and (Florin) Gardos over Lovren.

“Tadic did well in the first game at Liverpool, but he needed to do things a yard quicker,” Watson remarked.

“Now he is much sharper.

“I would take him over Lallana.

“Adam had an outstanding season for us last year, but he could have been dropped after the first few games.

“Last season everything we did went through Adam.

“Not everything we do goes through Tadic.

“Tadic is just another part of a strong jigsaw.

Watson added: “I’m not dissing Lovren, he did well for us, but now we’ve brought in two players for less than the price of selling Lovren.

“Toby has been brought in to play centre half and he’s so comfortable on the ball he played at right back in the World Cup finals.

“We’ve replaced Luke Shaw with a player who has played in a Champions League final and who will only get better, and we’ve got England’s No 2 goalkeeper!”

“Pelle will only get better.

“Ronald told me that Pelle could play at 80 per cent in Holland because the defenders there are not to physical, they would stand off you and let you play .

“In the Premier League it is a battle from the very first minute.

“They have all adapted so well, and credit to them.”

Elsewhere, Watson is also happy with what he sees in a far stronger Saints squad than last season.

“Jack Cork never gives the ball away.

“I saw him at training recently and asked him ‘have you given the ball away yet this season?’ “He said ‘no’ so I told him we’d speak again when he did give it away.

“That will probably be next season.

“Jack is not even a regular in the team - I rest my case about the strength we have.

“We also have Morgan with his passing and Wanyama with his tackling and strength.

“Morgan has already scored more goals than he did in the whole of last season, and even Wanyama and Cork have scored.

“Steven Davis can play in two positions, and we have Shane Long.

“I know people have complained about the size of the fee we paid for Shane.

“I would say they must look at the player, not the transfer fee.

“We might have paid too much for Shane, but Liverpool paid way too much for Adam Lallana.

“They also paid way too much for Lovren, and Man United paid way too much for Luke Shaw.

“At some point this season Shane will have a big part to play, and he’s a great team player.