Southampton got their first victory of the season in comfortable style, with a 3-0 home win over Norwich City courtesy of goals from Graziano Pellé and a second-half brace from Dúsan Tadic.
The Saints enjoyed a fast start, and could have been in-front just after a minute on the clock. James Ward-Prowse's stinging free-kick strike was curling for the top corner, but the young English creative midfielder was denied by a great acrobatic stop from John Ruddy to keep the scores level.
Norwich failed to make many half-chances
Norwich, who boasted the likes of Robbie Brady and Nathan Redmond on the counter attack, failed to ask many pressing questions of the So'ton defence, and lacked the final ball forward into their frontmen as half-chances came few and far between for the visitors. Cameron Jerome had their only real opportunity of the half, but he was unable to stretch for the ball far enough to connect cleanly and send it goalwards.
Then, with the game nicely poised at the half-hour mark, Alex Neil's side were rocked by a moment of madness from defender Steven Whittaker. Having already been booked a few minutes prior, the Scotland international made a cynical tug-back to stop Tadic advancing through midfield. It was a needless challenge, and his first yellow card was just as petulant as the first; denying Matt Targett the chance to take a quick throw-in at the far side.
Pellé hits Canaries before the break
The dismissal changed the complexion of the game, and Liverpool loanee Andre Wisdom was introduced in a defensive-minded alteration to add more solidity to the Canaries' backline after the red card.
The scores stayed level just up until the stroke of half-time, where Pellé slotted home from close range after an inviting ball from the flank by Sadio Mané - and despite a hint of offside, Ruddy was helpless to stop the strike from beating him at his near post.
Action-packed second 45
Koeman's men came out for the second period with the same fire that resulted in them opening the scoring before the break, and if it was not for the goalkeeping heroics of Ruddy, they'd have been three or four goals ahead within minutes of the restart. Mané came close to doubling the lead with a close-range effort, which forced a smart save by the English goalkeeper before substitute Jay Rodriguez also saw his fierce volley thwarted from 20 yards out.
Pellé could have doubled his own goal-scoring tally for the day on the hour mark, but his strike flashed off the side netting. Then, two goals in quick succession sealed all three points on a sweet afternoon at St. Mary's.
The official Man of the Match, Mané, fizzed in a teasing ball forward towards the back post - and the Serbian had no trouble firing the ball past Ruddy into the bottom corner, in emphatic nature. Then just two minutes later, Tadic made it a thrilling third as he was in the right place at the perfect time for a tap-in, after Pellé's header from a teasing Cedric Soares delivery was parried well by Ruddy; but none of his team-mates were on hand to clear the danger from the area.
In an impressive display from start-to-finish, Southampton won their first league match of the new campaign, and it was deserved too. Norwich struggled, but it could have easily been a different game if not for Whittaker's silly sending off mid-way through the first-half.