Saints found the solution to their lack of goals yesterday against Everton, "Who needs Rodriguez wh have got your back four"

It was a superb performance from a Saints side who matched Everton for work rate and effort, with Jack Cork and Steven Davis leading the way ably assisted by Victor Wanyama.

But it has to be said that there was still the old failings present, up front we failed to create much that troubled Howard in the Everton goal the two own goals aside and at the back we seemed to press the self destruct button sometimes, Dejan Lovren being the main culprit and on another day he could have seen two penalties awarded against him and a yellow card for each.

Ironically I felt we played a lot better against Cardiff but lost, the difference against Everton was that we had a bit of luck.

But overall we did what we do well in that our midfield harassed when not in possession and moved it quickly when we had the ball, those who said that Cork and Wanyama could not play in the same team were given the answer and that was an emphatic yes they can, in fact I would profer the opinion that the trio of Wanyama, Davis and Cork were as good as we have seen all season as a midfield unit.

All that our performance lacked was a goal scoring threat, Gallagher had a good game in that he put himself about a bit, but he isnt making the runs off the ball that he needs to, that is a lack of experience and of course games will give him that, but for the moment he isn't quite up to the standard and that was shown in the few times we actually troubled Howard in the Everton goal.

But a win is a win and that puts us on the cusp of cementing 8th place, we now need to start planning for next season on the pitch, it was good to see Harrison Reed used albeit for 4 minutes at the end, but again what was the point of bringing on Guly for 4 minutes of injury time, that told us nothing, why did we not use Matt Targett who was also on the bench, that would have been far more beneficial in the long run.

Saints remaining games look to have little on them now, both for us and Man Utd and Swansea, we have an opportunity to give a few youngsters a chance, lets take it.

Overall though Saints fans left St Mary's feeling happy, we had witnessed another good performance and the own goals glossed over our failure of one of our own players to score, but we know what our problems have been over the past few months, but we have ridden them through and now we can start to make sure that we solve them for next season.

Photo: Action Images

davepid added 09:14 - Apr 27 Thanks Nic for the report. Oh I do wish I could be as confident as you that we can put our weaknesses right over the close season under the current management team.
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LesVivian added 09:22 - Apr 27 Wanyama had his best game for Saints! He has been taught that he needs to get the ball, and play it short to the better passers, eg Lallana, Lambert, Davis, Cork etc. Surely Clyne is better than Kyle Walker? And Cork better than Wilshire? Both give the ball away too cheaply - shouldn't Saints have 5 players on the plane in June??
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thegeneral added 09:27 - Apr 27 Our midfield were superb, Davis, Cork and Wanyama played very well together but there's very few goals in that trio. I think with Wanyama in the team we could play 4-1-4-1, giving him more of a sweeper role. Clyne was brilliant, Everton tried three players against him and he shut them all down. I would like to have seen Reed get a good 20-30 minutes as he looks really promising whilst Guly was a waste. The only downside for me was the BT sport commentary who constantly bleated how poor Everton were, at one point Owen was asked what Evertons problem is today, he replied with his usual droning waffle, well let me tell you Evertons problem yesterday was Southampton.

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A1079 added 09:42 - Apr 27 A very accurate report Nic. Our midfield was great yesterday but as a striking force we again offered little threat and though Everton seemed almost supine in performance and we largely dictated the game it is difficult to see where our goals are going to come from. We simply do not trouble opposing keepers enough no matter how much possession or control we have and it has been the story of our season and our Achilles heel. Though if you said 8th place to me at the beginning of the season I think any Saints supporter would snap your hands off. Also agree that yesterday that we were fortunate with at least a couple of decisions, though arguably we too had a claim for at least one penalty. Owen commentary was awful. I get the impression with the media that they only want to say we play well when we lose or draw. There does seem a media consensus despite recent statements that this team will break up. I would like to think they will be proved wrong but given they always seem to know something I increasingly feel that those fears will be recognised. Liebherr and Co need to sort out the manager and player situations soon. Wait until after the world cup and it leaves us little time before the start of the new season.

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LostBoys added 10:13 - Apr 27 Excellent performance with the only problems being the lack of a cutting edge up front and a couple of hairy moments at the back. I recorded the BT Sport programme and watched it again last night and it was truly dreadful. Owen claiming the Lovren tackle was a clear penalty and then changing his mind when the producer told him the Everton player was going down as soon as he hit the ball out of play.

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abingdonsaint added 10:29 - Apr 27 Interesting that this was a 'superb' performance, but the ones against Cardiff and Villa were not! Apart from the period around Christmas, our performances have actually been very consistent. Our main weakness has been turning our dominance into goals, and it is essential we keep Poch and our best players this summer. We a few shrewd additions, we can really do some damage next season! It is also interesting that all the 'top' sides have their worst performances of the season against us (Chelsea apart). It is simply that our energy and movement, in midfield particularly, overwhelms most opponents. And Davepid, whilst I obviously respect your opinion, which manager do you have in mind to improve on Poch? I presume Pep Guardiola is not available! Fingers crossed for the summer!

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SaintNick added 10:49 - Apr 27 Cardiff and Villa are poor teams, Villa in fact have a single point from their last six games, so that tells us something. I have never intimated that the top sides have their worst performances against us, after all we have only beaten two sides above us and three in the top ten, so I don think anyone could say that the top sides have played badly against us This was a superb win given Everton's league position

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slynch added 10:59 - Apr 27 Injury and other events have finally conspired to show MP what his best team is. The back are shoe-ins with Clyne's attacking threat over Chambers. Wanyama and Cork in front of them paired together offer the rapid conversion of defence to attack without worrying about possession statics. In attack Davies gets better each week constantly passing the ball forwards and Lallana is another shoe-in. Gallagher is fast, big and solid and defences are under constant threat if they they play the possession-better-over-territory tactic. With Gallagher there Lambert can play to his strengths and slide the ball here and there and let Gallagher do the running. The sign of a good football is winning own goals. I'm told that last season, or before, Manchester United's second top scorer was OG. Your opponents pushed back into their own six yard box and panicking.

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Whatsforpud added 11:39 - Apr 27 Such a dominant midfield we have - even without Schneiderlin. Bit of a worry that no Saints' player has scored in 3 games. Thought Lambert had a good all-round game, but needs to be greedier in the box. Has anyone got any stats on what has been the quickest own goal in the Premier league?
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abingdonsaint added 11:53 - Apr 27 The bit about the top teams wasn't aimed at you Nick. It just annoys me that the media in general struggle to make the connection between our opponents playing poorly as opposed to not being allowed to play well!
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131153 added 11:55 - Apr 27 Firstly a very good and well deserved victory yesterday. Yes a bit of a shame our players didn't score but a fair point by slynch to point out our pressure caused the panic in their defence. Great to get a win against I always felt the 2005 games against Everton and Villa cost us a place in the premiership The midfield played very well together, and without a doubt Wanyama's best game for us. There is a good chance I feel Gallagher will make it, I think 18/19 year old forwards are viewed far more critcally by fans than defenders/midfielders of the same age. The worst we can now finish is 9th and there is no doubt every fan would have accepted that before the first game of the season. The only home game I don't think we deserved anything at all was Chelsea, again all fans would have been happy with that.

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IanRC added 12:52 - Apr 27 Despite his miss from a superb layback by Lambert thought Davies was outstanding yesterday although as others have said Cork and Wanyama were excellent too as was Clyne. Bit disconcerting to hear Adam's comments about the summer. Hope we do enough to keep him and our other young stars, a great team in the making if a few key signings made.
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Fordy added 20:27 - Apr 27 At last we had a bit of luck go our way with the own goals and refereeing decisions. But a good performance and interesting to see MP try something new with Cork playing a more advanced role. If we do have to sell people in the summer I think yesterday shows that we can probably live without Chambers and maybe even Morgan. But it did show that we had no real attacking threat on the bench so that is the area we really need to have a bit more in.

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SaintlyTim added 22:28 - Apr 27 Fordy, if we want a decent squad, then we do need to retain these players.
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davepid added 09:13 - Apr 28 Abingdon Saint. I don't know who should replace MP. I don't think I have to have a named replacement to hand before saying MP isn't the person to take us to the next level. Our play all season has been the same, I don't see any improvements that can be put down to the way we are managed . And on that basis I don't think the close season will see those changes coming under MP. Sorry he's done great , he's set us a new standard but I feel we are stuck there if we remain under him.

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BoondockSaint added 14:01 - Apr 28 Basically it was the same as the last maybe 10 games, lots of possession, no scoring threat, rinse, repeat. Shaw and Clyne should both be on the plane to Brazil-you can't teach speed, Roy! As much as we would like it, most contracts will not be sorted out until after the World Cup as players (and managers) hope to make their value shoot up with a good showing.
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