Vitesse manager Peter Bosz and captain Guram Kashia spoke to the media at St Mary’s on Wednesday ahead of their clash with Saints.
28 year-old Kashia has been with Vitesse since 2010 and has made over 150 appearances for the Dutch club, while Bosz arrived as manager in 2013 and guided them back to Europe last season.
The duo are expecting a tough test when they come up against Ronald Koeman’s men in the first leg at St Mary’s on Thursday night, but believe they have the quality to spring a surprise.
Kashia said: “I believe in my team, in my trainer. We will stick with our system and we will see if we can succeed. I have so much belief and we have so much quality.
“We have very young players but we can succeed. I know that Southampton are one of the good teams in the Premier League and the league is the best league in the world in my opinion.
“They have a Dutch coach and many players from the Dutch division. They have many strong players and are very good. We cannot complain. We have what we have and we have the power in the team to surprise a team like this.”
His manager echoes that message: “We have seen Southampton this week in Holland. It’s a good team. They play football; a possession game and they have individual quality," Bosz said.
“I think we know everything from them and we made a plan. We hope it works. We do everything for a good result. We are coming here to win and if it’s possible with our style and way of playing it will be wonderful.”
Just as Koeman said in his press conference ahead of the game, Bosz believes the opportunity to play in Europe is one Vitesse can’t let pass.
“For us it’s important to play in the Europa League and we were really happy to win the play-offs. We were the best by far in the play-offs and for us it was a good result,” he added.
“This prize is important for us and we are not disappointed that we play Southampton.”
Kashia, who came up against the likes of Dušan Tadić and Graziano Pellè in Holland, says Saints have a number of players that can cause his side problems.
“There are a lot of guys we need to stop because I played with a couple of them – Pellè and Tadić,” Kashia explained.
“Tadić was my favourite player in the Eredivisie and there are a lot of good players in the Premier League, but I think we can handle that.”
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