Dan gives his verdict on the win against Middlesbrough on Sunday afternoon, a result which lifted us back into the top ten.

Southampton re-entered the top half of the Premier League table with a well-deserved win at home to Middlesbrough. After a good performance, Sofiane Boufal’s 25-yard screamer guaranteed the hosts all three points.

After a disappointing exit in the Europa League on Thursday night, Saints needed a reaction to keep the players and staff and fans on speaking terms and the win definitely improved moods that had been sour after the exit.

Both sides started the day the league’s joint bottom goal scorers with 13 goals apiece which meant a goal-fest wasn’t likely. Boro looked toothless upfront for the entire ninety minutes but their best chance came from a Viktor Fisher shot that was cleared off of the line by Jose Fonte, who received a fantastic display from the fans after a report of a possible contract rejection, after a careless pass could’ve given the visitors the lead.

Jay Rodriguez was given the chance to start just his second Premier League game this season after Charlie Austin missed out through injury (and has since been ruled out for three months). He managed to test Victor Valdes in the first half but his shot went straight at the Spaniard.

After a bright start, Saints needed a little bit of magic in the second half and that magic came in the form of the club’s record signing, Sofiane Boufal who’s shot from 25 yards fizzed and curled past the ex-Barcelona and Man United goalkeeper, earning the Moroccan his first Premier League goal and one to remember.

Saints should’ve tied the game up, something they haven’t been able to do this season, especially when Jay Rodriguez was found by substitute Redmond with an across goal pass but his touch caused the ball to fly over the cross bar meaning that they had to settle for another 1-0 win.

Man of the Match: This award could go to a few players but I need to give it to our goal-scorer, Sofiane Boufal. He now looks settled after his record-fee transfer in August with skills to pay the bills and a memorable strike. He completed plenty of dribbles and is able to nick the ball off of the defender in dangerous areas. Cuco Martina, Jordy Clasie and James Ward-Prowse also had very good performances.

What next?

Saints travel to the Bet 365 Stadium on Wednesday night to play Stoke City. A tough but winnable fixture and three points would give Saints a huge advantage as they lead Stoke by just a point.

Photo: Action Images

LordDZLucan added 17:10 - Dec 12 Dan, you've put a thick coat of gloss on that performance. For 45 minutes it was as bad as last Thursday's performance if not worse. Yes, it picked up in the second half and, yes, that was a magical goal from Boufal. But again we didn't create many chances and again we didn't take the ones that we did create. It was acceptable as an away performance but not at home. On the plus side fringe players that hadn't been playing well started to look brighter as the match went on.

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ItchenNorth added 19:45 - Dec 12 Positive, I like it ! Glass half full, why not !
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perazi added 01:46 - Dec 13 Dan, if that was a very good performance from Prowsey, I don't want to see his poor performances! Good report otherwise. I loved the commentator's comment after J-Rod missed that close range cross from Redmond - "Rodriguez has ended up in the net, the ball doesn't and you have to wonder how". Made me laugh.
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SanMarco added 10:52 - Dec 13 Poor old JRod - he needs one of those to go in. I think it did meet that old cliche that it was harder not to score than to score. I saw Mane miss one just as bad at Spuds near the end when we were LOSING 1-0.... You need to put your positive pills on the market Itchen - you will make a fortune. Isn't positivity though more accepting the problems and moving on rather than pretending that something as woeful as (most) of our last three performances were anything other than dreadful? perazi points out what I consider to be the truth about JWP's performance - who gains from pretending that he played well? For me negativity would be to say that Redmond and Clasie played badly (just because they often do) - I thought they were both good - that's 'positive' and long may it continue - doesn't make the match any less dire though and it seems pointless to comment on here at all unless you call it as you see it.

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ItchenNorth added 13:31 - Dec 13 Hi San Marco: I agree that performances of late have not been great, I’m not pretending otherwise even if my comments on the surface of it might come across that way. You have to be glass half full though supporting Saints: otherwise you’d go mad ! For me we are just a decent striker way from a solid 10 top yet again. Yes we yet again lost key players in the Summer, but we need to remember that Puel has had barely one half of a transfer window to influence change in the squad. We have to be patient. We’ve seen what Boufal might bring to the table now, we’ve seen Sims come in and look very promising and McQueen has stepped up seamlessly. I share fans frustrations each summer when we lose players, but our Academy keeps giving and so far our key signings have been pretty good (think Lovren to Alderweireld to VVD, or Lallana to Tadic, or Mane to Boufal). For me we need to keep VVD (until the summer) and go get a striker in January. Where’s Pahars when you need him !

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arthurfane added 14:40 - Dec 13 Echo above comments - James Ward-Prowse kept giving the ball away and was very disappointing. He's shone in some games this season (Inter for example..) but all too rarely. Definitely think JRod and Shane are close to coming good, but I wouldn't be averse to giving youngsters like Olomola, Barnes and Gallagher a chance - wasn't at all convinced by the former, but am now as he's continued to bang them in for the youth. Come on Saints - teach Stoke a lesson. I just hope Lee Grant doesn't score!

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SanMarco added 14:48 - Dec 13 You are quite right Itchen - having supported Saints for 50 years I know exactly what you mean. I guess I am just not a glass half full kind of guy. A win at Stoke would do nicely though!
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aceofthebase added 16:34 - Dec 13 Just why does JWP keep yelling and demanding the ball around the centre circle when he is in no position to advance an attack and invariably just passes the ball back or sideways. It quite drives me bonkers,
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BaselSaint added 07:20 - Dec 14 Yes, as one of the lowest scoring teams if we can avoid leaking goals like at Palace we could scrape a mediocre league finish - but is this what we have planned for? Am I negative if I don`t want to settle for this. I thought we were on the march? For me the jury is out on tactics AND recruitment this season and I dont see progress no matter how other voices on this forum dress it up. Sorry , but I think we have lost momentum.

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