The voting is closed on the player ratings from you the members of the site, so lets look at what the verdict was from you.

It is perhaps an indication of just what a poor game this was when the man of the match is Fraser Forster, with a clean sheet you might imagine that Forster was leaping to the rescue on many occasions and making save after save, the truth is though he had one save of note to make in the entire match.

But Saints fans seemed to appreciate his all round play, although he didnt have many saves to make his all round handling and command of his box impressed the St Mary's crowd, most of which were seeing him in the flesh for the first time.

If Forster continues in this form then he will be pushing Joe Hart for the first choice jersey for England and if he does that then he will have been a very shrewd buy for Saints, in the transfer market strikers are always overpriced and the importance of goalkeepers under rated, what Forster did for Saints on Saturday was ensure that West Brom didnt get the chance to create havoc in the box, he dealt with situations before they were allowed to develop, we have often seen keepers at Saints who don't do this and it puts the team under pressure and for this reason Forster is a worthy man of the match with 7.8 out of 10.

Next up was Dusan Tadic with 7, in fairness I din't think Tadic really got going but he showed some good touches and that bodes well for the future, Victor Wanyama was not far behind with 6.7, personally I thought he just about shaded it from Tadic as like Forster his game was about doing the basics well and stopping things before they happened.

Lowest rated player was Graziano Pelle with 4.4, a very low marking and some people are writing him off before he has a chance, one stat that has come to light which I don't think many Saints fans would have credited him with is that Pelle has won more aerial challenges than any other Premier player, which not only perhaps bodes well for the future, but perhaps shows that some supporters perceive things that aren't backed up by facts, I am not claiming that Pelle had a good game, only that there was something there to work with and he needs to be given a fair crack of the whip.

Lowest mark was reserved for the game itself which had an average of 3.7 out of 10, I cant argue much with this, Saints were comfortable for most of the match, but the truth is neither side had much of an attacking threat and it was as bad a game as we will see at St Mary's all season.

Full markings can be found here

Player Ratings Saints V West Brom

Photo: Action Images

Stephen added 17:43 - Aug 25 Link to player ratings at http://www.http//www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/match-ratings/displa doesn't work.
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Zambucco added 08:08 - Aug 26 "one stat that has come to light which I don't think many Saints fans would have credited him with is that Pelle has won more aerial challenges than any other Premier player" I've read this in a few places, but sadly there hasn't been any links to these stats to back them up. I'm not saying they are incorrect, but quoting 'facts' without evidence is a bit dodgy Nick, just saying! But I would concur mostly with the voting, except Big Vic shaded it for me, I also think Fonte has stepped up a gear too. Tadic needs to be given Lallana's freedom, he's wasted sat out on the wings all game long.

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aceofthebase added 14:51 - Aug 26 Can we get the link sorted.
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