Saints dominated the game from start to finish with a display built on the back of sterling performances from some of those who have been under fire in recent weeks.

Whilst Saints won easily, they could just have easily have been a goal behind before they got into gear, but with Cardiff spurning an early chance as Paulo Gazzaniga stayed rooted to his line, the keeper made it his last error of the game and went on to have an almost faultless performance in the Saints goal.

As much as the victory was built on the guile of Adam Lallana and the finishing of Jay Rodriguez, it owed much to Gazzaniga who not only made a series of saves, but grew in confidence in coming for crosses and in front of him his defence grew in confidence with the returning Fonte and Yoshida showing that the loss of Lovren was a blow but not a fatal one.

Saints despite 60% possession though didnt have it all their own way and Cardiff never gave up battling even when they were swept away in a three goal blitz midway through the first half, first Lallana crossed for Rodriguez to slide in and open the scoring, five minutes later it was Jay Rod again this time it was Lambert the provider, then from a set piece Rodriguez knocked down for Lambert to make it three and still only 27 minutes on the clock.

The game was now there for Saints taking and it would only be themselves shooting themselves in the foot that would give it away.

Perhaps the moment that made sure that Saints would not be put under pressure came on the stroke of half time, a cross was hit in to the six yard box, Gazzaniga came out and under pressure got a punch in, but the ball went straight up, this was perhaps a moment when if he didnt stand strong the Bluebirds would score and come out in the second half and put us under the screw, the young keeper stood strong and showed that his confidence was back by catching the ball under pressure and making sure it was 3-0 at the break and the Dragon would not roar in the second half.

For those who are sick to death of some Saints supporters getting on the back of Gazzaniga and others it was good to see that he has not buckled under pressure and was big enough to ride through a rough period and come out the other side.

But it was also a real team performance in that every man did his job and did it well and it augurs well for the rest of the season, in truth this was not the hardest of opponents and the question of whether the off field problems would spur them on or weigh them down was soon answered, but make no mistake Cardiff did not lay down and die and kept Saints on their toes to the final whistle.

Now Saints have to build on this performance, one victory does not mean the crisis is over it just means that we should support the team rather than get on its back or more specifically the back of certain players.

If we had lost this game then the ramifications dont bear thinking about, but we didnt lose and hopefully can grow stronger.

Deservedly in my opinion Gazzaniga was the man of the match, not just for his saves or the way he commanded his box and grew in confidence as the match went on, but the way that he has never hidden in recent weeks and has now come back stronger.

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 23:54 - Dec 26 I think the Christmas spirit has got to you St NIck. The only difference between this performance and the Spurs performance was that they were playing Cardiff and not Spurs. Let's hope a few players get better very soon. Gonna get down to some Christmas Spirit m'sel now! Everton are gonna have a few players out, if Osvaldo's back Ramirez is back and Lallana survives his honeymoon Saints might just make it. Cheers All

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montecristo added 00:17 - Dec 27 sorry but IMO the difference was no Fox or Hooveld neither of these two should ever put a first team shirt on again. Saints need one or two additions if they want to go up the table simple as that the squad is short on class numbers
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Sango123 added 01:34 - Dec 27 I think it make a huge difference having Shaw in place of Fox and Yoshida in place of Hooiveld. Shaw offers a lot more pace and that made a lot of difference in both attack and defence. Yoshida was overall better defensive wise with more pace and better awareness. This is by far Gazza's best performance so far and we need him to keep it up before Boruc comes back. We need to keep up the performance and get a result against Everton to maintain and keep up our position. Schneiderlin is suspended for Everton.

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stmichael added 01:41 - Dec 27 Gazza did ok and credit to the manager for picking him. He showed faith when it would have been easy to drop him. But tbh nick for you to give him so much column space when the stats show Cardiff did not have 1 attempt on target shows that you write with your heart and not your head! Ricky showed again why he should always start. Pure class all afternoon. The touch and weight of pass for the 2nd goal was brilliant. His ability to drop deep and get involved in the build up which he does time and time again is why he CAN play in the same side as Osvaldo. Unfortunately Dani is not of the same quality which is a shame. Jay Ricky and Adam were fantastic. All English too. The 3 of them have seen off nearly 30 Million pounds of talent. Good on you guys..

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schatfield added 02:04 - Dec 27 sorry but gazza never man of the match, rose tined specs and all. Lallanna was man of match by a mile. different class. jrod and ricky were v good too. was worried when i saw lovren not on the team sheet but yoshi did well. glad hooiveld didnt play. same with fox. sorry if this sounds bad nick.
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dirk_doone added 02:49 - Dec 27 montecristo wrote sorry but IMO the difference was no Fox or Hooiveld neither of these two should ever put a first team shirt on again. I totally agree with you, montecristo. The best bit of transfer business we could do this January is to terminate Hooiveld and Fox's contracts as, let's face it, no other professional football club would take them, not even if we paid them to. That's how much of a liability they are.

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dirk_doone added 02:51 - Dec 27 We'd have beaten Spurs as easily as we beat Cardiff if Hooiveld and Fox had not been playing for us. In fact, if they'd been playing for Spurs we'd have won 6-0.
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BoondockSaint added 05:31 - Dec 27 Though it tis the season, no use jumping on the Bi-Polar Express. Just as losing to big wage teams in the past weeks was not a sign we are awful, so beating Cardiff does not mean we are going to rocket up the standings. We just have to hold steady until we get players back. But as it is the season, St. Nick, thanks for all your work in 2013!
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Bulgarian added 09:34 - Dec 27 It is nice to see Nick pointing out the positives and getting behind Gazza. The majority of posters cannot agree with this summary, but I appreciate the writer's attitude: as a young GK Gazza can keep his head high, irrespectful of whether he is valued as our future No1 or not. An excellent game for everyone involved, I would like to congratulate Chambers on an amazing half-season (the youngster is superb while not getting much press attention) and Cork for his tireless performance, he is getting better and better with every game. Now please all excuse me, but I feel we have been somewhat harsh on Osvaldo. His start at the Club is not greeted by fanfares etc, but he really needs time to adapt. Besides, this is a clear trend in all non-top-6 sides in England: Latin players almost always fail to make an impression from the first games. And think about our recent history: Tino Delgado, Guly, Ramirez... It's not just playing attributes and work rate, it's rather the overall mentality. Osvaldo is gifted and has a strong (and maybe strange) personality, but he wants to prove himself and - if treated the right way - will produce. I still feel Gaston has a chance of flourishing with us. Sometimes Latin Americans are true primadonnas, sometimes they just need to see the belief of coaches and players. No Howard and Barry for Everton, Mirallas is a mystery; no Schneider for us, but JWP and Gaston may emerge. I feel we can snatch a result there.

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mgprobert added 10:42 - Dec 27 Just as we shouldn't get too despondent when the results don't go our way so we shouldn't get too carried away by an unusually generous Cardiff result. It was their turn to don the Santa outfits and hand out presents but hats off to a very clinical Saints performance. JayRod could become some player - Adam already is - amazing levels of performance consistently this season. Gazza still doesn't inspire confidence, but its nice to see a clean sheet again. So much better with Shaw and Fonte in the team - good to get a result like that without Lovren and Boruc. COYR

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halftimeorange added 10:46 - Dec 27 Whilst I agree with most of the postings on here I have to msay that our defensive frailties were there for all to see. Yoshida gave the ball away virtually every time he passed, Gazzaniga was not as inspiring as the article suggests, Cork dropped out of the game early on and his lapses allowed Saints to be opened up only for an ineffective Cardiff attack failing to capitalise. I think Cardiff are for the drop so this was no big rally, simply a side with a few class players beating one whose shoulders are currently slumped. Lallana ran this match but he had good support from the largely unsung Davis and Schneiderlin however, until we have another Lovren and Waynama back for Cork we are not the finished article.

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thegeneral added 11:22 - Dec 27 I like the fact we crafted two goals from open play that would have gone in against pretty much any team in the league, quick perfectly weighted passing and dead eye finishing from JRod. Rickie reminded us what an insightful player he is. I thought with the schedule in mind MP would have made earlier substitutions, it was a perfect chance to give Gaston 30 minutes and try to earn himself a reprieve (perhaps from the fans more than management) and a young striker to gain some experience. MOTM has to be Lallana, i thought Gazza was still a bit flappy, a couple of heart in mouth moments for sure.

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rjh added 11:26 - Dec 27 No Hooiveld. Made a massive difference. Every time a ball comes in the box you panic when he is there. Also Shaw is in a different league to Fox.
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montecristo added 20:06 - Dec 27 Perhaps we could give Fox and Hooveld away to Pompey...now theres a thought
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montecristo added 20:07 - Dec 27 Perhaps we could give Fox and Hooveld away to Pompey...now theres a thought,perhaps Cortese would even pay their wages while they were there???
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TeamCortese added 07:37 - Dec 28 @montecristo: I'll look into it ;)
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SingaporeSaint added 12:03 - Dec 28 We take the weak links out of our team and suddenly we look a good side. Really is very obvious. Wont dwell on the 2 omissions as have been well summed up in the comments above. Good win all round and should build some confidence. If there is any negative it is could be have taken off MS to prevent the 5th booking - we will miss him at Goodison. Saying that we needed the 3 points so am just pleased we won and can look up the table again.

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asaintsfcangel added 15:54 - Dec 29 I agree, Paulo Gazzaniga has improved so much and has grown in confidence. He definitely deserved this clean sheet.
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