What a difference a few days and a couple of wins makes, we started this week with things all doom and gloom and finished it on a high.

Saints gained their second comprehensive win of the week and in doing so pushed themselves into 10th place and only 5 points off of West Ham United in 5th ushering in a new mood of confidence for the rest of the season boosted by the pre match news that Charlie Austin had put pen to paper on a 4 1/2 year contract.

Surprisingly Ronald Koeman made a couple of changes to the line up, out went Clasie and Romeu the heart of the midfield against Watford and in came Wanyama & JWP.

West Brom fans pre match were adamant that there team would come to spoil, keep it tight and nick a goal, that is not surprising news given that Tony Pulis is the manager, however his game plan was thrown out of the window when James Ward Prowse opened the scoring in the first five minutes.

Ward Prowse has always been touted as a free kick specialist, but he had yet to produce for Saints, but his free kick was top drawer and former Saint Rickie Lambert sat on the Baggie's bench must have been reminded of his own days at St Mary's when he thrilled Saints fans with similar exploits. Ironically this was the first Saints goal direct from a free kick in the Premier League since SRL himself scored in February 2014.

JWP doubled his total on 35 minutes with a penalty after Matt Targett was fouled and the game was all but over, Targett himself almost scored when he had a shot cleared off the line.

Dusan Tadic repeated his substitute role on Wednesday by coming on and scoring the final goal, albeit this time the third and not second.

Once again this was a comprehensive performance and the team looked fired up and concentrated for the entire 90 minutes with Fraser Forster able to continue his comeback game without a single shot on target to have to deal with.

Key player was Steven Davis who once again was at the heart of everything both defensive and in attack, he was ably supported by Matt Targett who is in the side on merit and is gaining in confidence all the time, not only using the ball well but now surging forward into the box as he did to earn the penalty for the second.

Shane Long should also be mentioned, he led the line well and was at the heart of most of the attacking moves, putting a clever ball into the path of Targett for the penalty and flicking the ball on from a clearance in the move that ended with Dusan Tadic making the game completely safe.

Cedric Soares put in another performance that made him a contender for man of the match, he looks like he has now come to terms with the physical aspect of the Premier League and he gets forward with pace, I would say his performances this week have been as good a display as anything that Nathaniel Clyne produced for Saints, if Soares continues at this level then he will have put to bed the spectre of Clyne on his shoulder.

These four deserve special mention because they have not always been appreciated by the supporters for one reason or another, but all of the team did there job, in many respects this performance was no better than the one against Palace a week earlier, the difference is that we played for 90 minutes rather than making errors or lapses in concentration and that enabled us to keep a grip on the game and impose ourselves rather than as in too many games play catch up because we have given away too many silly goals.

So Saints can now go to Old Trafford with confidence, the squad is now stronger and better and the arrival of Charlie Austin will give Ronald Koeman even more options.

So what a difference a week makes, the mood amongst the supporters is now buoyant and the doom and gloom of last weekend seems a million miles away.

Photo: Action Images

schatfield added 12:14 - Jan 17 Good write up. Although the others did well I feel the confidence Forster brings being back in goal as one of the biggest contributors in the past 2 games. Soares is playing well but still a long way off what Clyne did week in week out. Felt a bit sorry for rickie not even getting off the bench of an average west brom side. How he must regret ever leaving now.
1

SaintBrock added 12:14 - Jan 17 Great win, three points, no goals against what more is there to say. WBA we're ordinary because we made them look ordinary. Pullis came for a 0-0 obviously and a possible counter attack goal but had no Plan B once the free kick went in.
1

SaintBrock added 12:16 - Jan 17 were
0

IWOZTHERE added 12:33 - Jan 17 As you say, several stepped up with excellent performances and SD was outstanding. Seems the new set up is helping the forwards to do their jobs now and it will be interesting to see whether we can do the same with a big target man, whoever he may be? Shame Mane can't hit a barn door. After that outcome, it's a job to argue but I'll 'stick to my guns', VERY disappointed Ron brought VW back for VW, Not the way to increase morale in my opinion.

0

SanMarco added 12:45 - Jan 17 Yes SaintBrock - and he was lucky to get 0 as one of former managers once said. Two good performances this week - the next two will be a lot harder but at least we will approach them with confidence now.
1

vanmans added 13:09 - Jan 17 Great result. A good goal and penalty from JWP but he should not be in the starting line up. I feel sorry for Romeu to after his performance against Watford he should have started as should Clasie. Good to see we signed Charlie Austin.
-1

SaintPaulVW added 13:20 - Jan 17 Great Performance. Forster coming back seems to have unlocked us. Just need to keep the shots on target ratio up and we'll be in amongst it again.
1

SaintNick added 15:01 - Jan 17 The key is shots against, Forster has instilled confidence and the team has responded in the last two games only one half hearted shot on target against us
1

IWOZTHERE added 16:26 - Jan 17 Whoops! I mean't 'brought back VW for Romeu' earlier.
0

Scummer added 16:47 - Jan 17 Given that Koeman and the squad had three games in eight days, perhaps it was always the plan to rotate the midfield to keep them fres. Likewise, Tadic rarely makes more than 60-70 minutes in a game, so using him as a 30 min substitute makes sense in that context. We have a decent squad, and I'm sure that Koeman has a 14 player team planned for each match. He's a good man manager and knows what he's doing.

1

Consigliere added 17:59 - Jan 17 After the Watford game I said that my hopes would rise to volume 11 if we won again at the weekend but caution prevails and I would have to say that its still only on ten and a half. This was a great team performance with Davis once again at the heart of everything that went well, but as I have said before, this is not revolution, just a modest improvement in every department which in total makes the difference between success and failure. JWP's free kick was a class apart from his previous attempts to pick up the mantle of David Beckham though, and should give him the confidence to go on to score a few more. Very happy to see Charlie Austin join the squad, not just because he has goals in him but because of the message it sends to the other players that someone of his obvious quality wants to play here. It should keep their feet to the fire in terms of fighting for their place on the team sheet!

2

Consigliere added 18:00 - Jan 17 PS Man U looked very ordinary today - perhaps hope should be eleven and three quarters!
1

davepid added 09:44 - Jan 18 I have been critical of JWPs shooting ability in the past so it's only fair I comment on his two set piece goals on Saturday. Well done, now go learn how to shoot a moving ball .
1

dirk_doone added 13:33 - Jan 18 BBC Sport live match report: Victor Wanyama (left) in the Southampton midfield looks to be key today. He has managed 63 touches and 54 passes - finding a man with 87% of them. Compare that to Darren Fletcher (right) who has played just 19 passes for West Brom. Indeed, Wanyama has managed more than Fletcher and Claudio Yacob (30) combined.
0

BoondockSaint added 14:20 - Jan 18 Agree completely with davepid. I too have not been happy with JWP deliveries, hopefully this is the start of something good.
0

zonehead added 19:19 - Jan 18 I think the key was ward prose for classie,we can't carry passengers
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Derby County Polls