Despite the disappointment of Tuesday’s defeat in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup at Newcastle United, Saints fans’ spirits were lifted somewhat later that evening by the confirmation of two more signings.
These were a club record £22 million plus bonuses deal for 20-year-old Ghanaian winger Kamaldeen Sulemana and an £18 million plus add-ons move for Nigerian Paul Onuachu, the top scorer in Belgium this season.
They followed Mislav Orsic, Charly Alcaraz and James Bree through the door at St Mary’s in January to take the number of new recruits to five.
This joy was short-lived, however, with the disastrous 3-0 defeat at Brentford and arguably one of the worst performances of the season coming despite the New Year spending spree.
While the new faces are welcome as Saints look to freshen up in the post-Ralph Hasenhuttl era, it means little if Saints boss Nathan Jones is unable to manage the team effectively.
He currently has no idea of his best starting 11 and his post-match comments show a man out of his depth with no control over what is happening in the dressing room or on the pitch.
"I've let the players down because I came into this club to do a job and do certain things and I don't see my team in there,” Jones told the BBC.
"I've pandered a little bit and maybe got carried away with the fact that these are Premier League players and that you have to give them this and you have to give them that. But no more. Now I have to go back and to be me, because that's not good enough."
What is the man talking about? Ian Wright summed it up perfectly on Match of the Day when he called the comments "strange”.
"The [comments] were strange because it's your job to do the job," said pundit Wright. "What are you talking about that you're pandering to people? Don't pander to people. This is the Premier League. You come in and you're not going to get many opportunities at it, so don't come and start throwing people under the bus and say it's their fault that you didn't do what you did before. Get it done."
I have previously written about how Saints should have taken time to make the right appointment https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/58956/ and that Jones needed to concentrate on football rather than attacking everyone - including fans - for his failings https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/59337/ Both remain relevant.
He doesn’t seem up to the job with six defeats in seven games and no strategy. He is contradictory, defensive, offensive, discourteous and has an average at best record with no Premier League experience. It’s unlikely the club will act and replace him given their desire to recruit him but they should. It was the wrong appointment and it’s time to cut losses.
If he stays then he has to sort out his starting 11 and stick with it. The news of the two arrivals from France and Belgium instilled fresh hope and enthusiasm until they were both placed on the bench despite being declared fit to play. How can £40 million of talent need time - as Jones has also stated is the case with Orsic - yet a right back brought in from Luton Town for £750k can walk straight into the line-up? Bizarre.
If they weren’t fit they wouldn’t have been on the bench. They are professional, top flight, international football players. This is why the manager doesn’t hold the dressing room.
There will be much discussion and analysis from writers, pundits and fans about Jones and the predicament the club is in over the coming days though, so I’ll leave that alone for now.
Instead, to make myself feel somewhat better, I’ll take a look back at happier times and contemplate if, maybe, we could have a new cult hero partnership on our hands.
The signings of Onuachu and Sulemana immediately brought back memories for me of Dušan Tadic and Graziano Pellè arriving back in 2014 under Ronald Koeman. What a time that was.
Pellè swiftly followed Serb Tadic through the door as 28-year-old Onuachu did behind Sulemana, with the Nigerian striker exactly the same age as Italian ace Pellè when he moved to the south coast.
In arriving from the Belgian and French top flights, the duo follow a similar road to that of Tadic and Pellè, who made the journey to England from the Dutch Eredivisie. In fact, while Tadic and Pelle arrived from the same country, Sulemana and Onuachu reversed that by setting out in the same country having both played in Denmark with Nordsjælland and Midtjylland respectively.
At 6ft 7in, Onuachu is three inches taller than Pelle and comes with an excellent record of 164 goals in 328 games compared to Pellè’s respectable 79 goals in 195 games.
As we know, the Tadic and Pelle link-up from 2014 to 2016 proved a resounding success, with both players undoubtedly securing a place in the hearts and minds of Saints fans for life with Tadic the artist behind a significant amount of the Italian’s 30 goals in 81 games.
Tadic ended up remaining with Saints for a further two years and played a total of 162 games, delivering 35 assists and 24 goals. The tantalising partnership provided some of the most exciting times in the club’s recent history - with top half finishes resulting in European qualification over those two years.
While the club currently finds itself in a precarious position and times are very different, there is something about the new pairing - and particularly Onuachu’s scoring record - which gives confidence that these late arrivals may hold the key to something special.
The club is in a better place now a proven European-based striker has been secured - something that should have happened in the summer - and that means the chances of a revival have been boosted. But that won’t happen if he doesn’t play.
Despite the fact these are testing times at the bottom of the league with seemingly no way out, it would be remiss not to take the opportunity to reminisce about the Tadic and Pellè era.
Could it be magic once again with Sulemana and Onuachu? It could be, but under Nathan Jones we may never know.