Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana admits he rated himself as a League One player at Southampton.
Lallana credits former Saints manager Mauricio Pochettino for lifting his game.
"I wasn't proven. I'd had a season in the Championship and we were relegated. I was a late developer," he told the Daily Mail.
"I didn't have that X factor that allowed me to push on like Gareth Bale or Theo Walcott. At a really young age they were quick and powerful. I had to be more patient.
"When we were in League One, Alan Pardew came in. And under Alan I began to make a bit of a name for myself. He's a good coach and has that British mentality. Nigel Adkins did as well.
"But Nicola Cortese came in with a five-year plan of getting the club back to the Premier League; something that was achieved in three years. And as soon as Pochettino came in, that's when I think my game went up another two levels."
