■ The Southampton legend on VAR and his early impressions of Chris Wilder

What do you make of Saints’ start?

Looking at the first four games — Burnley, Liverpool, Brighton and Man United — I would have probably said yes to four points at the start of the season. It’s not a bad return. I’d like to think the likes of Nathan Redmond will push on this season and I really like Moussa Djenepo, who came on and scored at Brighton and did really well against Liverpool.

What Is boss Ralph Hasenhuttl’s standing like at the club after keeping Southampton up?

He is very popular with the fans — they are right behind him and the players look to have really bought into the way he wants to play as well. A few went out on loan on the last day of the window recently (Mario Lemina, Wesley Hoedt and Jake Hesketh) as they were surplus to requirements and Ralph has got the squad of players he really wants for the season now.

Were you surprised so many clubs were apparently interested in midfielder Lemina?

Yes, he flattered to deceive really. At times you thought, ‘he’s a nine out of ten, this guy, absolutely superb’. But a few days later you’d watch him again and he looked as if he’d never kicked a ball before. Sometimes he’d be both of those things in the same game! A lot of that is down to a player’s mentality.

Two matches against local rivals coming up… but Portsmouth in the Carabao Cup is the one, isn’t it?

Most fans will tell you they don’t really recognise Bournemouth as a derby — it’s all about the boys in blue down the road. We have a good record against Bournemouth at St Mary’s and the Pompey game will be blood and thunder. They’ll make it difficult but we haven’t played them for seven years. It’ll be spicy.

Saints face Sheffield United this weekend. You know their manager Chris Wilder don’t you?

We were apprentices together at Saints and he always came across as a leader. He’s a Sheffield United fan and a Sheffield boy and that makes a big difference to a club. I watched their first game against Bournemouth and they looked well-organised and created chances. I thought they were bang-on to go back down but now I reckon I wrote them off too early.

Where do you stand on the use of VAR so far this term?

I thought there was a case for bringing back old refs to be VARs who do not have a connection with the current officials, so there can be no suggestions the VAR does not want to overturn his mate on the field’s decision. Or even bring a player in to give a different perspective. But the most important thing is making sure game-changing decisions are correct and you don’t come away feeling you’ve been cheated.

Will it get better?

I think it will get tweaked but the PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Board, a referee’s group) need to come out and say: ‘Bear with us, this will take a bit of getting used to’. Managers after a game give an emotional reaction but Pep Guardiola came out a few days later with a different view, I think. Managers won’t want to be seen as complete hypocrites over this.

You’ve been walking with Jeff Stelling in his latest March for Men for Prostate Cancer UK.

He’s no spring chicken, is he? I know he wants to get past the £1million mark for the charity this time, which would be amazing. It’s quite humbling walking with him as you get to meet a few lads who have prostate cancer or who have been affected by the disease.

■ Matt Le Tissier supported presenter Jeff Stelling as he took on his third March for Men for Prostate Cancer UK. He walked four walking marathons in four nations in four days, visiting 16 football clubs in Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff and London. Find out more at marchformen.org or search ‘Jeff’s March for Men 2019’ on Just Giving