Ronald Koeman prepared his players for their 8-0 demolition of Sunderland with an eight versus ten match in training the day before the game to sharpen their attacking skills.

The Saints boss spoke in advance of the contest about how difficult a side the Black Cats would be to break down, given they had lost just once all season in the league and boasted the second best defence in the division ahead of their arrival at St Mary’s.

Koeman had, therefore, decided to work specifically on his team’s attack in training on Friday.

“In the training session we played ten players against eight players and I said ‘We need forwards who are making a difference tomorrow, because it will be tough – they have a good defence, they have a good organisation.’ “Ok, it wasn’t that organisation in the second half, but it was difficult at the beginning.

“The first 20 minutes was very difficult. They were the dominant team and I didn’t expect at that time this result.”

Indeed, if anything, the early stages had suggested that Saints were going to be in for a tough afternoon, as Sunderland started well, before Santiago Vergini’s incredible own-goal broke the deadlock.

Koeman said: “The first 20 minutes, it was very flat, but that’s football and sometimes you’re surprised how a game is changing, because if you were asking me about after 15 minutes ‘It will be an easy win?’ my answer on that time would be ‘No, no, for sure not.’ “Then, in the end, it’s 8-0, but that’s football. It’s sometimes difficult to understand.”

Koeman, who admitted he was in a slight state of shock after the game, added: “We were lucky for the first one, an own-goal, and that gave us a little bit more confidence, maybe a little bit more organisation in the team and we wake up after that.

“We were maybe a little bit lucky after the 2-0 – I would have to see the clip back to see if it’s a penalty or not (for Fraser Forster bringing down Steven Fletcher) – but very proud about the second half.

“We had 17 players out in the international break and if you showed that ambition to the last second of the game it was great, it was the best that I see ever of the team, and that was important, because we played great football, we scored great goals and it was a great afternoon.”