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Southampton At Sheffield United The Verdict

Saints made it 10th time lucky as they beat Sheffield United in comprehensive style to finally win a Premier League game and get the season back on track, hopefully now we can get some momentum and make this season a good one.

Throughout this awful run the trick for Ralph Hasenhuttl was to keep calm knowing that this wasn't a poor team playing badly, but in the main a good team decimated by injury not getting the breaks.

At some stage things had to change and at Bramall Lane what changes was that we had three players back from injury and in key positions.

That meant we could keep our shape and get back to doing what we did before Xmas and that was keep it tight at the back and when you keep a clean sheet it takes the pressure off at the other end of the pitch.

But first Ralph had to make a decision and that was in goal, did he keep faith with Fraser Forster who had kept clean sheets in the FA Cup and had done well at Everton in midweek, or did he restore Alex McCarthy.

The choice was to go with Forster and that was probably a game changing decision, the defence clearly look happier with Forster behind them, in many respects he didn't have a lot to do, but what he did he did with confidence and his defenders knew where he would be and when.

The decision to return Walker Peters, Diallo and Minamino to the team was purely about whether they were fit enough to start and they were.

But perhaps the biggest thing was for the first time in two months we had a bench that have both experience and are proven at the top levels, Adams, Redmond, Djenepo, Salisu even Jack Stephens, for the first time Ralph had more than one option.

But initially Saints struggled, too many passes were going astray and we kept giving the ball away, but we didn't concede because when we made mistakes we got back behind the ball and made sure the Blades didn't make us pay.

As the game went on, we started to cut the mistakes out and dominate but with 13 minutes gone came what looked like a disaster, Danny Ings pulled up and had to go off, the only good thing being that he he wasn't at full pelt in fact he was walking when he felt it. so hopefully the damage has been limited.

On came Adams and I felt that this might be his day, an ex Sheffield United player he always seems to do well against them and has scored in the last 2 games against them.

The injury to Ings seemed to spur us on and after we survived the initial Blades bluster unscathed we started to look like the Saints of pre Xmas again.

On the half hour mark came the breakthrough, Nathan Tella was worrying the home side with his pace and when he was put clean through he was brought down, VAR agreed and James Ward Prowse despatched the penalty with aplomb.

We almost conceded an equaliser in injury time just before the break, a stray pass from Diallo saw a 1-1 on Forster looming but under pressure from Jan Bedarek and with the massive frame of Forster ahead it was a tame chip straight into the keepers arms.

The game was effectively over 4 minutes after half time, Adams saw his shot saved by Ramsdale but the Blades clearance saw Ryan Bertrand block with his head, Stuart Armstrong chest it down and Che Adams strike a glorious rising shot from 25 yards.

TV replays seemed to show that Armstrong may have come from an offside position, but for once we got the rub of the green from VAR.

There was now only one winner and Ramsdale in the home goal had to make three decent saves and both Minamino and Armstrong saw shots go only inches wide, in the end it could have been 4 or 5.

But this being Saints they could not get a third and let their fans watch the final 20 minutes with the game completely put to bed, but truth is the defence did everything and by the final whistle most of which Forster had had to do were tidying up and catch a few crosses, this is not belittling his contribution, he and his defence were well organised and all knew what their job was, Forster was there when called upon, but his defenders made sure that wasn't as often as it has been of late.

So a good win and something we can build on, I have always maintained that the issue was that of injury and when that situation eased then we would get back to to winning ways and this has proved to be the case.

There has been a lot of panic being spread by some of late, but luckily those on the pitch and Ralph Hasenhuttl have in the main kept going and battled through it and now we have our reward.

We should remember where we were three years ago, back then we only had 32 points with 2 games to go, two years ago early in Ralph's reign after 27 games we only had 24 points and where still in the bottom 3, a year ago when football was suspended we had played 29 games and had 34 points.

That shows that even after this horrendous run we are still ahead of where we have been in the last few years, perhaps this season won't see a top 10 finish although we are still only 5 points off Arsenal in 10th.

But we can go forward now with confidence we have broken the hoodoo and although we probably have to write off the trip to Manchester City in midweek given their winning streak, we then have a run of games where we can get points on the board and not only put lingering relegation worries to bed but secure a solid finish to the season and you never know perhaps two trips to Wembley.

These are different times, both in the World today and football, it was never going to be normal, but we have perhaps the best suited manager for this football club that we have had since Lawrie McMenemy, we should all be behind him in the work he is doing, yes he will make mistakes, but show me a manager in the Premier League that hasn't had issues at some point.

To end on a topical note when did Prince Harry start playing in our midfield, Stuart Armstrong looks more like him every week.


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