Graziano Pelle has had a few critics but he answered them all in fine style against Manchester United with some saying it was his best ever Saints game.

Following Rickie Lambert was always going to be a hard act to follow and i'm sure that Graziano Pelle was aware of that when he joined Saints just over a year ago.

What e would not have been expecting though was the level of animosity that some supporters would show to him, in only his second Premier League game and his first at St Mary's after only 15 minutes some sections of the crowd were cheering him ironically every time he won a header.

Luckily he then went on a scoring spree that showed just what he could do, but for a vocal minority that was still not enough and even at West Brom last week there were those who screamed abuse at him as if he had just robbed their grandmother.

Im still not sure why some Saints fans seem to hate the man with a vengeance, it is mercifully only a handful, but for some whatever Pelle does will not be enough, that is fair enough they are entitled to their opinion, but what I cant understand is the frothing at the mouth abuse they feel the need to hurl at him as he is trying to score goals for Southampton Football Club.

Last season he scored 12 goals in the Premier League, that was a superb total, indeed only 9 players scored more than him last season in the League and the total is even more impressive when you consider that he does not take penalties or free kicks.

Yes he had a barren spell but he never gave up trying or running or doing his job and that is a good sign for a striker.

This season he has started the season well and has hit 4 goals in only 6 Premier League games including the two against Manchester United yesterday and surely this game was his best so far in a Saints shirt.

Apart from the two well taken goals he put in a great all round performance, he never stopped running, he worked hard, he closed down defenders and he was a target man for the team, his link up play was superb and he helped get other players into positions to try a shot.

Anyone who has been a critic of Pelle would find it hard to argue that he as not the Saints man of the match yesterday and hopefully his display will have silenced some if not all of those who can do nothing but fling abuse at him.

If Pelle can keep in this form and those behind him can start to gel as a team then it won't be long before we are back to firing on all cylinders

Photo: Action Images

saintsnutcase added 10:41 - Sep 21 Easy answer -- yes he was awesome, and for the first time I understood how he could be first choice for Italy. Also, he gave 100% for 90 minutes, which is more than I can say for some of the others. Now if only Mane, Long or JRod could get on his wavelength....
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IWOZTHERE added 11:44 - Sep 21 Outstanding...passionate, he seems to care! As a bonus ,he rarely gets injured. Header out of the Shearer/Carroll mould. (anyone remember George Kirby?) Might need some back-up for him later in the season 'cos he suffered a bit after Christmas.
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aceofthebase added 12:13 - Sep 21 Good game Pelle but that celebration dive was something to be quickly forgotten.
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Whiteknight added 12:16 - Sep 21 The problem is we rely too much on one man. Others need to give as much as him. I do think that if he carries on he could be a legend.
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bstokesaint added 12:50 - Sep 21 He was oustanding yesterday against decent opposition I thought. To be honest I think he really should have scored the second goal, which would put Saints properly in the ascendancy, but they don't always go in and he never gave up after that.
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SonicBoom added 13:27 - Sep 21 How can anyone question him? Easy. Pop over to the saints web. There's plenty there doing it. Saying he was terrible from the 20th minute to the last five. Apparently he didn't run and was constantly offside. Oh and if you dont pass the ball directly to his feet, he makes no effort whatsoever - then has a go at all his team mates. Personally I thought he was just about our best player - but what do I know...

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halftimeorange added 13:42 - Sep 21 Apart from his overall sound performance Pelle acted like the captain yesterday, constantly geeing up his weaker teammates and berating those he didn't think were giving their all. Behind me in the Kingsland three fine fellows spent the entire game slagging him off. No doubt they went for a Pizza afterwards. Let's hope they were given the salmonella topping!
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SanMarco added 15:35 - Sep 21 Anyone who blames Pelle for yesterday is talking out of his Rednapp. He was very good, best game ever? Maybe but these things are always tarnished by a bad result and also I agree with bstokesaint: that hit the post was a straightforward chance - especially for someone playing his best ever game...
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Zambucco added 15:43 - Sep 21 Nick I think you need to change where you stand, as I never hear what you hear. Yes a few groans and moans but even Jose gets them if he f**s up! However yes by far his best game, his commitment and energy were on a new level, his ball control too (although a long way to go) if he keeps this up he's going to be sucha handful. He's also toughening up too, I'm old scholl and like my CFs to have a bit of fight! Even my best mate who has knocked Pelle from day one "he'll never score ten goals as long as he's got a hole in his *arse" admitted he was our best player yesterday. We may be struggling at the moment but there are good signs within the team and after a performance like that, it will give them confidence to step it back up.

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perazi added 16:22 - Sep 21 Easily his best game in a Saints shirt and should have had three. Although under no pressure that header was classical from a great Mane corner.
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BoondockSaint added 18:33 - Sep 21 perazi- you make a great point-Mane delivers the ball with just the right pace and weight both in the air and on the ground. Maybe we should have him take corners from now on.
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perazi added 19:04 - Sep 21 Boondock - I meant to say cross, not corner - but I'm sure Sadio M. could deliver great corners too. He really is an exciting player and I'm going to make the most of his play this season because it will be really difficult to keep him at Saints beyond that.
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ExiledSupporter added 20:26 - Sep 21 Pelle was good because we played to his strengths (unusually) both Mane and Ward-Prowse got down the wing and put in dangerous crosses. Then after about 25 minutes that stopped and we started playing "half hearted crosses" into their box from about a 45 degree angle which are a great deal less threatening. JWP faded as usual and became irrelevant and practised his lateral passing (no risks there) and nobody played balls into the channels and Pelle was forced to play too much of his game with his back to goal (where he is always more than proficient at laying off the ball) but where his chances of shooting directly at goal diminsh considerably (and no one ran from midfield to give him options as to where he should pass in that position). Our midfield is deficient since Tadic and JWP seem to only have a good 30 mins or so in them and there is no player to boss the space between the half way line and the opponents penalty area. We don't have a No 10 ,at least not until the unproven (in the Prem League) Clasie settles in and I hope he fills that void, let's see

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Jesus_02 added 11:24 - Sep 22 Yeah great performance by Pelle (can’t think of a better one) but Mane was my MOTM. I’m no great fan because he is representative of a change of style that I favoured. Maybe I feel like he has become indicative of our aspiration to become comfortably above average. Not sure 12 goals is “superb” either TBH. Especially for someone that is such a focal point of the team. Man U fans wouldn’t describe the 12 Goals from Wayne Rooney as “superb”. While there were “only” 9 that scored more there were 2 that scored the same and 6 that scored only one less Let’s hope that he continues playing well for the whole season

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Jackflash1975 added 18:48 - Sep 22 He is a good target man but the team could do him more justice if they got closer to him when he nods the ball on. IMO that game was a mental test once the back pass was put away and that was a completely different Saints team in the 2nd half. They have the physical and technical ability but RK cannot influence them once they are in the pitch. Just look at Saints when it get to 2-3, I wish that happened 10 mins earlier as Manure were on the back foot. They were 100% beatible and forget the past, its the present and future that counts.

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