Ralph Hasenhuttl called for passion in the stands, he got it both on and off the pitch as Saints stormed to a well deserved victory.

There were no real shocks in Ralph's starting line up aside from Stuart Armstrong dropping down to the bench for the returning Danny Ings for the first game in what will be a season defining run of games.

These days there is a different look to the Saints team, you can see the confidence, the passion the determination and the attitude oozing out and it is hard to believe how different we are now how we where only six weeks ago.

Several players are really starting to blossom under the Austrian manager and it has to be said that James Ward Prowse is one of them, a month ago some were predicting that JWP was heading for the exit door in January having never really grasped his potential and turned himself into an indispensable member of the team.

It's early days but Ward Prowse seems a different player under Hasenhuttl and against Everton he seemed to have matured, he was taking the game by the horns and truly influencing the outcome, not only scoring a great goal that saw him win the ball with grit and determination but creating chances for others.

Now Saints play a different style it suits JWP as he can now play forward passes to Danny Ings who thrives on through balls.

But it was not just all about JWP this was a team performance and Saints battled an Everton team who are as good as it gets outside of the top six and firstly blunted their game and then put the squeeze on them.

It was a deserved win with everyone playing their part the only lapse being right on 90 minutes when Everton got an unlikely goal and suddenly came to life in injury time helped by the referee suddenly deciding to add a few minutes on top of the four announced, yes there may have been three minutes for Shane Long's head injury but not five.

The win was built on a strong central midfield pairing with virtually nothing to choose between JWP & Pierre Emile Hojbjerg leading by example, Romeu working tirelessly add to that a lively Danny Ings and Nathan Redmond who if he continues his current form might just get another England call up plus a determined defence when called upon and you have a perfect team performance.

Everton though did give us a helping hand and were doing there best to score for us in the first half hitting a post before actually toeing in what proved to be the winning goal.

Once we opened the scoring the fans chipped in, they created an atmosphere at St Mary's not seen for a long while, they kept the team going when it mattered, they would not let the players drop their tempo, Ralph asked for passion, it took a little while to get it going, but it kicked in when it mattered.

Now we can start to look for a vital run of three games where we play teams around us, two wins out of three would see relegation worries banished indeed one win and two draws would also do that.

This win has brought us breathing space, we now have a break with no fixture this weekend and that will give us time to get a few niggling injuries cleared up work on fitness and focus on the visit of Crystal Palace.

I have always maintained that we have a decent squad, I have always thought that Nathan Redmond was a player who can genuinely influence games, it just needed the right manager to bring it out, it is easy to get carried away but what Ralph Hasenhuttl has done for this team is nothing short of miraculous and his appointment has been inspired.

We still need a new central defender and another attacking option but this win has brought us not only breathing space but time, we do not need to panic in this transfer window as we did a year ago, we can sign players because they are right for us not because we have to do something.

Our League position a year ago at the same stage of the season was 17th with 21 points, on the face of it very similar to this season, but we were on a slippery slope then with a squad that was lacking in everything needed to bring out it's potential, now we are looking upwards.

A year ago Newcastle were two points and two positions ahead of us, at the final reckoning they were 10th and perhaps that is achievable for us, it certainly should be our focus.

Photo: Action Images

Saint60 added 16:20 - Jan 21 Re Whatsforpud comments, it will be of great benefit when RB gets fit again, so that we can have an attacking thread down our left hand side with MT which offers the option of players happy on their left foot going outside the opposition right back, getting to the byline and crossing back into the six yard box for DI / CA / NR to capitalise on, or for JWP / PH to follow in on at the edge of the penalty area. On the same lines, what has happened to Sam McQueen - I seem to remember that he was quite strong on his left foot ? And I gained the impression from watching the Derby replay on television that young Johnson was also a left footed player - or am I mistaken ?

0

Bury Polls