Saints got back to winning ways at Carrow Road, but the performance highlighted both the strength's and weakness's of the team this season.
Ralph Hasenhuttl read my preview judging by the starting line up he put out at Norwich City for the resumption of the Premier League season proper for Saints, that meant a place for Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and a start for Michael Obafemi up front.
Norwich came out of the traps with plenty of fight as we expected and in the first 10 minutes we were all at sea, too many times the Canaries found their men unmarked and we failed to clear the ball far too often and gave it away when we did get it, in truth we should have been at least a goal down in this period and perhaps more, indeed our best defender was Danny Ings who made a timely tackle to slide the ball out for a corner just as it looked like the trigger would be pulled and the ball in the net.
But after this dodgy period Saints started to impose themselves on the game, James Ward Prowse showed his leadership talents and we started to have some shape.
Michael Obafemi was struggling to get in the game and make the runs that gave an outlet, but luckily Danny Ings was not suffering those problems, he was full of running and had several good chances to score including a shot that hit the bar.
The game went in at the break goalless, but Ralph Hasenhuttl would have been the happier manager, he had seen the bad in his side, a lack of marking and organisation and he had seen the good, but it was still a note of caution, we had taken control of the game but had wasted several good chances, would we pay for it in the second.
We got the answer after just four minutes of the second half resuming, Saints started the second as Norwich had started the first and ran at the home side, the ball fell to Danny Ings who finished with a perfectly placed curling shot.
Five minutes later and it was two, this time Stuart Armstong scoring with a shot that was well placed into the bottom corner, Ings was again involved as he seemed to be with everything.
Now Saints were well in control of the game, but there was still the worry that they might let Norwich back into it and as the game entered the final 15 minutes you could see the Canaries winding up for a desperate finish and again we looked like we had a few lapses in concentration.
As the game entered it's final stages Norwich had the ball in the net, but it was well offside but it was a wake up call, minutes later Nathan Redmond made the game completely safe and again it was a clinical finish, not rushed, not smashed with force, just well placed.
The home side were now completely crushed, they knew the game was up, although to be brutally honest they seemed to know that the moment the first goal went in.
With a raft of late substitutions there was not final flourish that would turn it into a rout, but the job had been done.
The good points were the performances of James Ward Prowse, Nathan Redmond and Danny Ings, JWP looked like the Captaincy spurred him on, it gave him confidence it didn't drain on it, Nathan Redmond looked back to his best in the second half, taking the ball and running at players and deserved his goal.
Danny Ings was superb, he is a clever player, pre game it was said he was involved in 46% of Saints goals and when we attacked he was usually at the centre of it.
The bad points though were still at the back, in the first 10 minutes we looked like a pub side, the two central defenders appeared to be unable to organise and communicate and too often unaware of where they should be and we kept failing to clear the ball properly giving away a succession of corners where the ball should really have been controlled and cleared.
But we played through them and won and that is true, but being blunt this was Norwich City the worst side in the division this season with the worst home record apart from us, a better side would have punished us early on and not been so charitable when we attacked.
But we did the job and that is what counted, it gave us a 10 point gap between us and the bottom three and some vital leeway, as we moved up a place in the League it highlighted just how far we have come since October and also how our poor defending has been the difference between being in the bottom half and the top 10.
I keep harping on about this but the reality is we throw so many games away, 3 out of the last 4 games all saw defensive lapses and individual error cost us points, every team concedes goals, but in those 3 defeats literally all the goals conceded should have been defended,, but were not done so to the standards you would expect from a Premier League player.
If we had just drawn those games then the table would look far different today, we would be 10th and only 4 points behind Sheffield United in 6th, if we had Virgil Van Dijk we would be top six, of course we haven't but that shows you the potential of this squad and what it could achieve with a couple of good signings.