Second on Match Of The Day such was the emphatic win for Saints as they walloped Sunderland to boost the confidence ahead of the big day at Wembley in two weeks.

Saints gave the fans the perfect boost for both the rest of the season and of course the League cup final in a fortnight.

It gave the Saints fans hope that with the arrival of Mannolo Gabbiadini means that we now have the final piece in the attacking jigsaw in Claude Puel's side and we can now start freely scoring goals again.

Some will say this was only bottom of the League Sunderland, but you can only beat what is in front of you and if the Black Cats had won they would have been out of the bottom four and only five points behind us, this was a game that defined whether it would be a relegation worry in the next months or if we are again looking at a top ten place.

Puel's side answered that question emphatically, the stats were familiar, 58% possession 15 attempts on goal for, with only 8 against and 1 on target, but what was unfamiliar was 8 attempts on target for us and 4 goals.

The difference was the clinical finishing of Mannolo Gabbiadini, he has the goalscorers knack for getting on the end of the ball and putting it away, but his game is more than just that, he works hard and creates chances for others and it is that which on Saturday at Sunderland gave confidence for others and helped us build the foundation for what was an emphatic win.

But Gabbiadini did not do it alone, in recent weeks you would have thought at least according to social media that we had a terrible side, I never thought that, whatever was going wrong I thought we had a quality in the side that would see us through the season and even not firing on all cylinders could see us into the top ten.

That being the case the win was also about team work, from the goalkeeper through to the back four and midfield who worked hard to win the ball, pass it and get it to the front three to create chances.

This was done, as I said the stats were not that difference, the thing now is that we have slotted the final piece into the attacking jigsaw, we have options now up front, but more importantly we have in Gabbiadini a man who has given fresh hope to the supporter base.

Of course this was not against a top team and there will be some who will say that, however we struggled against this team twice at home earlier in the season and this is just the sort of game we should have put to bed throughout this season, but up until this weekend have usually failed to do so.

The failure to land a central defender is still there and could cost us dearly, but now we can perhaps feel that we can outscore sides if we have to, it was important to prove this.

Just as important though was to keep a clean sheet, the goalkeeper and central defence have come under pressure after two defeats that saw five goals conceded and virtually all of them should have been defended, we needed to show that we can keep it tight at the back and this is something we have rarely done this season in the Premier League.

This is one win, we have seen false dawns on a few occasions this season, our problem has been consistency and hopefully we can now find that and win two games in a row or hopefully even more and pull up the table, yes one swallow does not make a summer, but perhaps for the first time this season we can see that the central defensive issue aside, we now have the players to play the way that Claude Puel wants and can perhaps make this a season to remember.

This win puts us up to 11th only two points away from 9th and that has to be our target for the season, to finish in the top 10 and when we are in sight of that see how high we can finish.

Sometimes you have to take a step back to go forwards, there is no doubt that is the case for Saints, but we have come through the storm, yes it is still rough waters, but we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and we are still going forward.

Right time to put aside all the negative thoughts and moans for the next fortnight, we should all be looking forward to a day out at Wembley, something we have not enjoyed many times in our history, lets appreciate it, savour it and enjoy ourselves, certainly not ruin it by constant maoning on social media.

Photo: Action Images

Consigliere added 10:32 - Feb 12 Much better all round. True it is that we now have a striker prepared to shoot on sight but he didn't do that all by himself. Excellent midfield play from Davis and Romeu and a much tighter defence. A word for Yoshida, who I have always thought is better than many give him credit for - it was his dogged determination in defence and pass the Bertrand that lead to the first goal, and that (as Moyes himself said on MOTD) changed the game. Like many others I've been pretty nervous about the cup final but this should steady the team all round and we go into that game with confidence. Finally, the manager actually gave an interview afterwards that (more or less) made sense!

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NewburySaint added 10:39 - Feb 12 Phew! We can now wait until the summer to sort things out, if they still need sorting out by then of course.......
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perazi added 10:46 - Feb 12 It was the uplifting win everybody associated with the Club and those who support SFC needed. There was not a poor performance, but special mention to the first half heroics of Gabbiadini, and the excellent displays by Romeu, Tadic and Bertrand, and the solid games of Davis, Yoshida and Cedric. Let's hope for a similar performance in the Cup final to that handed out recently by Saints at Anfield.

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highfield49 added 11:04 - Feb 12 Terrific team performance indicating what a shrewd purchase Gabbiadini could be, surely Les Reed ought to be sacked for bringing in, again, an unproven player for not much money. Whilst accepting that Sunderland don't have the best attacking players in the league credit should go to Stephens and Yoshi for looking comfortable in their roles, I think the opposition only had one shot on target all afternoon. And, once again, Romeu absolutely immense in midfield. The future is looking bright and probably even brighter if Caceres joins us this week.

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hmmm added 11:15 - Feb 12 Whilst Gabbiadini was clearly the catalyst, I suspect that it greatly helped that for the first time since Christmsa we had a full week to prepare for this match instead of only 2 or 3 days (something that has rarely been there case throughout the season). As has been said before we have played more games than any other team in the Prem so far this season, and far, far more than those not involved in Europe. For most of the rest of the season we will only be playing once a week so should see less rotation and more consistency. Bring on Wembley

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SaintBrock added 12:42 - Feb 12 I agree with much of what you say Nick but we must be aware of the dangers as well. Sunderland gave us time and space and that extra fraction of a second on the ball makes all the difference in picking out a pass and passing accurately to team mates. If you study the detail of yesterday's game some of our passing was relatively slowly executed as players were not put under individual man-marking pressure very often and Sunderland players clearly were not prepared to bust a gut to cut out passes either. Had their midfield had a Romeu or Davis or Clasie for that matter it would have been a different story. What we are seeing these days is the value of the first goal to either team, morale seems to be so fragile these days and why that should be is a mystery. Early on when we had not settled and were under a bit of expected early home pressure we managed to keep things tight enough at the back to stop them scoring and I think ultimately this dictated the course of the match. You know teams cannot keep that pressure up for more than about a quarter of an hour - first wind, as it were - and the pattern will change. If you go one down it seems hard to come back but we didn't and through a superb "strikers goal" from Manolo Gabbiadini completely changed the course of the match. What he did there none of our other strikers have been unable to do all year, bust a gut to get into the six-yard box to meet all of those superb crosses that Bertrand & Soares have been pitching across all season and gone begging. This is not the end of the story, Man U are not Sunderland. Wembley is a big pitch and is notoriously energy sapping. Ibrahimovic is not Defoe whilst Pogba & Mata will be more than a match for Davis & Romeu in trying to control the middle of the park. Who will last longest physically will likely be the key. What cannot be forecast is the Wembley effect on individual players, some will rise to the occasion others will be over-whelmed. We have a few seasoned England campaigners in our team who should be used to the place so that might help a little. Some know this might be the only chance in there lives of winning Cup there. On the day it may come down to who wants it most, they have the best players so we need to have the best 'collective'. On yesterday's showing we have a chance.

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SaintPaulVW added 13:23 - Feb 12 More please! Could we actually have 4 strikers all in form at the end of the season. Stephens looked good yesterday and Gardos on the bench eases my nerves a bit. I think we could make 7th at a push but realistically top half and a cup will do this season. COYR.
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saintmark1976 added 14:42 - Feb 12 A wonderful result which shows how much I know about football having posted on Saturday that I would have played an extra defender and gone for the draw. A little word of caution remembering that we put three past Bournemouth and thought that we had turned the corner.I do feel more confident this time however given that we now appear to have a forward who can hit a barn door with a banjo.

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Bettwsresident added 14:43 - Feb 12 Saintbrock, you raise an interesting point about wembly that should play into our hands. The one area we are better than man u, is our play on the flanks with Bertand and cedric. Here's hoping manure pay a price for this final being their 4th game in 2 weeks, and we can rip up those flanks and feed manolo and shane
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Ali_Diarea added 14:45 - Feb 12 A great and timely victory, COYS, we can start looking up the table again now rather than down the table. I must say we look so much more solid playing 4-2-3-1 and now, at last, we have a frontman to lead the lines, everything seems to be clicking back into place. Whatever happens at Wembley this has to be regarded as another decent season for us.
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SanMarco added 15:58 - Feb 12 I agree that we have had several 'false dawns' in away victories this season but at least this one gets us into the home straight. I am not bothered where we finish this season as long as we stay clear of a relegation struggle and play well in the final. Unlike saintmark76 I was, for once, proved right - I was worried about the loss of Bertrand's attacking ability if he played in the centre. Again he was a potent threat in an away game. Also, credit where credit is due, a lot of people said play Bertrand in the centre and Puel ignored them - he was right. Having said that I totally disagree with all comments that draw any real conclusions about our central defence from yesterday. Let's wait until we have kept a clean sheet against Manure before we decide that!! It is pointless but still interesting to ponder where we might have been if we had bought Gabby in August - up with Everton I would say because they are only well above us due to having a goalscorer. Those re-sanctifying Les after his dodgy period ought to reflect on that + the undignified scrambling around for a centre-back after the deadline is still a major issue. That mistake could well still cost us quite a few league places and a cup final but even a pessimist like me is now saying STAYING UP with a certain amount of conviction...

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the_saint added 16:40 - Feb 12 Not only did he pick his strongest team available but he set the team up well and got the tactics spot on, I have criticised him in the past but well done mr puel on the Sunderland game. Long may it continue as we really would love you to succeed.
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saintmark1976 added 17:18 - Feb 12 SanMarco. Thank you for reiterating the error of my ways. I think that in my case nothing sums it up better than that old expression "confession is good for the soul"
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BoondockSaint added 02:26 - Feb 13 Finally some points towards (hopefully) safety. Hopefully Gabbiadini continues his scoring streak until he is sold in the summer. No Nick, he is not the "final piece" as we have needed TWO effective strikers and a CB since last summer so Puel better have a look to see if the other pieces are in the box or fell on the floor. highfield49 Les (or whoever is pulling his strings) should be sacked because this deal and others should have been done in the summer, like any other properly run professional team would have done. No only that, the Scouse were winless in 5 Premier League games (you know, taking one step backward so they could take another 4 steps backward) and crashed out of both the League and FA Cups while Mane was at the Africa Cup tournament and as usual, the supporters were turning on Klopp. This is what their season would have been like if not for Les. But now Mane is back and their season is back on course, well done Les! The only question left is who will he sell Gabbiadini to this summer? The Scouse because he is their chief talent scout, or Burnley or Watford since they are the teams that need a leg up over us on the table?

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highfield49 added 10:04 - Feb 13 You could of course be absolutely correct BoondockSaint but then again we could have Mane sulking his way to the last year of his contract and either leaving on the cheap or more likely for free. How exactly would you have got him to stay and extend his contract?
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bstokesaint added 13:07 - Feb 13 I never saw a clean sheet and such an emphatic away win on the cards. As others have stated, the obvious 8-0 freak result aside, we do tend to struggle against Sunderland and Defoe is generally a thorn in the opposition's side. We did very well to restrict him to nothing. I don't care what anyone says about Sunderland being bottom, Defoe still manages to score against the top sides, regardless of the final match outcome. So credit against to the patch-up defence (Yoshi worthy of credit again) and the midfield for keeping it tight. I'm glad we finally seem to have found the much-needed striker as well. As SanMarco says I wonder how different our season would have been had we got him earlier. Anyway, let's not dwell we go into the final on the back of an away win, which will help relieve our league concerns enough for us to fully concentrate on the job in hand. I still think that if we play to our best it's going to be a really close game. We've got a great chance at silverware and I think we might want it more.

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ItchenNorth added 13:51 - Feb 13 I thought Saturdays game was the perfect example of what Saints might be or, could end up being if WE are not careful. I am fully away that Saints have lacked consistency this season both at home and away, but for me our performances away from home will at present likely revive our season. The reason I believe this is because away from home Saints players are able to play and perform without the immense pressure that gets heaped on them at St Marys. It doesn’t matter who you are, negativity and lack of vocal support: does effect players performance and attitude. Away from home however, the pressure is off and they can go and play without fear like they did on Saturday (abet Sunderland are a poor side). Having a goal scorer in Gabby of course now massively helps things, but I looked at Sunderland’s team this weekend, their stadium, their fans and though: this could be us on another weekend (if we are not careful). It’s no wonder Sunderland can go away from home (i.e Palace) and bang in four goals: the pressure to perform was off. There’s a lesson here for Saints fans at St Marys. Look at Sunderland. Listen to the boo’s at half time. Look at the half empty stadium after 70mins (when they were still only 0-2 down !) and consider if this is the best way to support the club you love. Do we want to risk Saints results in the same fashion by pilling on the pressure at the first opportunity at home or do we what to support our team for the full 90 first. Imo we’ll see better results if we do fully back the team first. If the team haven’t performed or the manager made errors, fine, let them know at the final whistle. But not before. I really hope that on Sunday week at the EFL Cup final that regardless of the score or performance we back the team from start to finish. So what is we go 1-0 in the first 10 mins. Who cares if we go 2-0 down just before half time. It's a cup final and you just never know what might happen (in that 2nd half) given our backing throughout. My fear is some fans will in effect lose us the final before its even started if attitude doesn’t change. We’ll end up putting in a performance like Sunderland did on Saturday: but in the cup final. COYRS, come on you fans: bring home the cup !

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BoondockSaint added 14:16 - Feb 13 Hi highfield49 Yes he still would have wanted out and we would have had to cash in, but we should have shopped him to Chelski, ManCity or Arsenal ( OK they are probably too cheap) since he would have affected the race at the top of the table and not hurt us. By selling to the Scouse (as usual), we weakened ourselves and helped our closest competitor on the table. If Les is too thick to understand this, Ralph should have pointed out that in the NHL, for instance, the Rangers, Islanders, Devils and Penguins don't trade with each other. You never help your rivals- if the player does well, you look like a fool .

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mattthelegend added 19:48 - Feb 13 Hi Boondock, I think you will find the reason scouse beat Tottenham is that the way Tottenham play is a far more open attacking game, which allows the pace of Mane to exploit. I noticed he wasnt so effective against Hull the week before when they lost! So not really down to one man is it? Yes i was gutted when Mane left as he is unpredictable and exciting to watch, but he is only one man and made very little impact against us in the EFL semi final at St.Marys.

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BoondockSaint added 20:19 - Feb 13 Hi mattthelegend. I agree he wasn't effective against Hull, his first game back-jet lag? And he had absolutely no impact in the EFL semis because he didn't play, he was at the Africa Cup! I'm not saying he's "Matt the Legend", but he makes other players around him better by creating space and drawing defenders to him. Look at Shane Long's stats last year compared to this-and Lalana's for the same period.. Take care.

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SanMarco added 09:40 - Feb 14 ItchenNorth - I read your comments with interest and think in a sense that you are talking about the Prem League in general here. Away fans are often noisier nowadays. There is much less 'atmosphere' in grounds than there was. A visit to Arsenal, Tottenham, Manure shows that. Even when they are winning it is nothing like the 'old days'. Like it or not attending matches is a very different experience nowadays - more like going to the theatre - you take your seat a few minutes before the performance begins and you sit back to be entertained. Away enclosures, with everyone standing from the start and the concentrated noise, are more like the old days (without the pee wetting your ankles - but of course Saints fans never did that). St Mary's might be only a mile or two geographically from the Dell but it is a million miles away in all other ways. The above is not to say that the boo boys and leaving when your team could still win are 'good' things - if a film is rubbish and you don't care about the ending you may well get up and go - but football is all about the fact that the ending can remain in doubt - I remember us 0-3 down with 15 mins to go vs Liverpool and as for Hoddle's boys at Tranmere..... On the Mane issue for me, once I recovered from the disappointment (but not surprise) at us selling him my issue was always that we didn't REPLACE him - and we still haven't.

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ItchenNorth added 12:06 - Feb 14 I don't disagree SanMarco, you make some valid points. I just feel that we can't always just point the finger at the board or the players, we must also question ourselves. Can we make a difference? I say yes !
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SanMarco added 16:55 - Feb 14 Yes ItchenNorth - I agree with you. Only the opposition can gain from crowd negativity during the game. Having said that there is no harm in having high standards and there will certainly not be any problem at Wembley as everyone will be up for it whatever the result. Anyone planning to go and be a boo-boy should sell their ticket NOW...
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