Saints looked accomplished in what became an easy victory, however Saints being Saints, they had to have another defensive lapse in there somewhere.
Nigel Adkins made the changes I predicted in the preview on Friday, however the only difference was that Gaston ramirez was used in the hole behind the lone striker Rickie Lambert rather than out wide as a winger as we were lead to believe he was, Adam Lallana staying out on the far wide left berth.
The biggest surprise though was thatKelvin Davis was dropped for Gazzaniga, although it has to be said Saints looked a lot better for it.
A good strong first half performance was ruined by another lapse in concentration ten minutes before the break, Darren Bent seemingly harmlessly heading the ball across goal but when it was knocked back he was left alone to guide the ball past Gazzaniga, Danny Fox seemed to thing his run should be covered by a central defender whilst they hadnt noticed Bent at all, either way it was a soft goal to concede and in truth Fox should have taken control.
After the break Saints made a change with Fox off and Clyne switching to left back, this had the advantage in that Clyne was able to get forward and keep cutting inside and this caused Villa problems.
Villa threatened little in the second half but the one chance they did have almost threatened to put the game beyond Saints reach before they had a chance to claw it back, Gazzaniga getting everything right as heblocked Bent's shot, from the subsequent corner a free header went very close, but although we didnt know it then, Villa were finished as an attacking threat.
On 58 minutes came the goal we wanted and Rickie Lambert held up the ball well and got in a shooting position and hit a firm shot, the keeper got a hand to it but it was too hard to keep out, now Saints were back in the game and on top, five minutes later Saints were in front Clyne was played in and he finished well under pressure from a defender and advancing keeper.
Now Saints were passing well and looked good, Steve Davis in midfield is one of those players that are considered the engine of a side and he buzzed around in midfield, he wasnt demonstrating all the deft flicks etc that Ramirez was starting to pull out of his locker, but it was Davis hard work that meant that Saints got the ball and were able to give it to the likes of Lallana and Ramirez, on 72 minutes aints got a third and were a tad lucky in that Puncheon had done everything right, but his shot would have hit the corner flag if it hadnt deflected off Clark.
Saints closed out the game well and the performance was capped by an injury time penalty that helps greatly towards the goal difference.
There were many plus points in the game, perhaps the most important though was at the back, Yoshida looked the leader we need and clearly he gelled well with Fonte who looked as comfortable as he has done probably since the end of our promotion season from league 1, Yoshida suited his style in a way that Hooiveld never did and it was very noticable.
Ramirez was excellent and the more the game went on the classier he looked, however another central midfield player doesnt help our problem with dealing with pace on the flanks, Villa offered little in this department and it enabled Saints to dominate, but it has to be said that it wont be the same most weeks, at times our wide players were roaming out of position and it left gaps that on another day could be exploited.
But overall it was good to get the first win on the board and it should give us confidence for the rest of the season, it is good to get out of the bottom three, although it could be only for less than 24 hours.