Saints will turn up their pre-season intensity a notch today as Claude Puel starts to finalise his plans for the new Premier League campaign.

Puel led his squad on the short trip over to Holland yesterday, their second overseas visit of the summer, and will see them play three times in the space of the week.

The action starts this evening as Saints take on Dutch top flight side PEC Zwolle.

Puel has seen his new charges in action just once so far, and that a low-key friendly against a DC United under-23 side at the end of the week long training camp in Baltimore.

Since returning from the States, Saints have had a couple of solid days of training at Staplewood, with sessions in both the morning and the afternoon as they ensure the players are both fit and understand Puel’s vision.

Puel will have Steven Davis, Shane Long, Ryan Bertrand and Fraser Forster to choose from today after their returns to the squad following Euro 2016.

All eyes will be on the style Saints are going to adopt under Puel with most of their main men back together.

Puel fielded different teams in the first and second halves against DC United, something he may well choose to do again against Zwolle, who finished eighth in the Eredivise last season, as the players shake off their summer rustiness and ease back into business.

The formation he plays may well give an insight into his thoughts for the new season.

In the DC United fixture there was a noticeable change in the shape of the side.

Rather than the 4-2-3-1 formation which had been a staple under both Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman, Puel slightly tweaked it.

He played in essence a deeper central midfield three, with one of those players at the base of the midfield shielding the back four and the others able to get further forward and cover for attacking full backs, who are expected to provide most of the width.

Ahead of those three there was a fluid system that at times saw two players off of a central striker, and at others one player in a number ten role behind two forwards.

The strength and depth of the Saints squad means that Puel has the ability to play that formation if he so chooses.

If that is what he is working towards then he will likely be keen to continue to see the players gradually getting to grips it with over the pre-season programme.

After the game against Zwolle there are three days of training before Saints face FC Twente on Wednesday night.

They then have the chance for two more days on the training pitch before rounding off the Dutch tour with a fixture against FC Groningen.

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