After breaking his 15 game Premier League scoring duck will Graziano Pelle now fire the goals that will take Saints into Europe ?

In football there is a saying with strikers that is known as "Sauce Bottle" it likes scoring goals to trying to get tomato sauce out of a bottle, anyone familiar with doing this will know that in the decent brands it is sometimes not an easy thing to do, you have the bottle upturned but nothing comes out, you bang on the bottom of the bottle and still nothing happens, you keep banging and eventually the sauce starts to come out and when it does it pours out.

This is like a striker in a goal scoring drought, he keeps banging on the bottle metaphorically speaking, but nothing happens, but he knows that if he keeps banging ie keeps trying to take chances, eventually that goal will come and when it does suddenly the goals start to flow again.

So will this be the affect for Graziano Pelle ? now he has broken that Premier League hoodoo will he start to hit the target with the regularity he was before the turn of the year.

During this drought there were some supporters who lost faith in Pelle, they subjected him to some vile abuse, but to be fair to the Italian striker, he never hid, he kept trying to take the chances when they came his way and he kept doing the things he was being asked to do within the team structure, at no time did he panic, he didnt start trying to score from all angles or distances as is tempting when things arent going right, he still knew what chances he should attempt and which ones a team mate was better positioned.

That meant that in the main he was playing well, of course there were some games that he wasn't to par and perhaps should have scored, but during that run there wasn't one of his team mates who could claim anything other for themselves, but for some reason Pelle took more stick than others.

Hopefully now that is behind him and Saints fans should realise that even after this run there are few players who have scored more Premier league goals than Pelle and that perhaps says something about his contribution to the team and how much he contributed to our league position with not only his goals but his overall play.

As it stands in the Premier league goal scoring charts going into this weekend Pelle has 9 goals, to put that in perspective only 6 players have more than 12 goals, behind that half dozen there are 3 players on 12 goals, 2 on 11 goals and 4 who have hit 10, I will do the maths for you, there are only 16 players who have scored more goals than Pelle in the Premier this season despite his goal drought and 9 of them play for teams currently in the top four.

Look at the players who have scored similar totals to Pelle, Danny Ings who the same people who shout abuse at Pelle usually put forward as his replacement has exactly the same total, Romelu Lukaku who cost Everton £28 million has scored one less with 8.

Sometimes you have to put things in perspective, usually most seasons 14 -15 goals will get you in the Premier League top ten scorers.

So it is feasible that Pelle could push himself to withing a goal or two of that target before the season is out if the Sauce Bottle theory takes affect.

The moral is that in the final games however Pelle plays or whether he scores or not, its time to back him and indeed all his team mates, sometimes i feel that some would rather see the team fail if it means that Pelle fails, I remember at the recent home game against Burnley a so called supporter a couple of rows behind screamed incessant abuse at Pelle from the early stages of the game, from about the 20th minute he was screaming for Koeman to "get him off", when I and other supporters had "words" with him apart from the stock answer that he is entitled to his opinion, which is true his only explanation was that he "Hates Pelle"

That struck home to me how some of our support seem to take against certain players to an almost hysterical level, what had Pelle done to make that person hate him ? had he had an affair with his wife ? had he let his dog poo on his lawn ? had he pushed in front of him in queue for the chip shop ? I doubt any of them but why would someone hate one of our own players.

Like any supporter I have players i rate and players I dont rate, but I dont hate any of them as players unless they do something to warrant that, all Pelle has done for Southampton Football Club is try to play well, score goals and in doing so we stand as I write sixth in the Premier League as high as we have ever stood in the top flight at this stage of the season in 30 years.

So I recap, we are six games away from perhaps our joint second highest league finish ever, thats in 130 years of our history, football is a team game so the whole team need supporting, if a supporter told Ronald Koeman that although he supported the team he was not willing to support Pelle because he hated him Im sure Koeman would give him short shrift and tell him to stay away from the game.

This last few paragraphs are perhaps aimed at a minority of Saints fans, but is a very vocal minority at times, 95% of our supporters have been superb this season, our away support has been nothing short of magnificent, in fact the best I have ever seen as i approach the 40th anniversary of my first ever away game.

So lets keep that support going and great things may happen.

Photo: Action Images

halftimeorange added 11:54 - Apr 17 At the time Pelle was scoring his goals Dusan Tadic was playing regularly from the off but, since his loss of form, Pelle hasn't received the same regular level of service from Elia, Mane or Long. Tadic was providing chances, not all converted, but Pelle knew he would have opportunities. For too many times this later half of the season Pelle has been isolated but he's slogged away, often whilst being fouled, and has held the ball up for others, only for those others to be stuck out on the wings when one, at least, should be alongside him. It was Schneiderlin who turned provider for Pelle against Hull and Pelle patently needs more assists of that type. His goal for Italy showed that.

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TimSaint added 11:57 - Apr 17 Pelle likes to score at Stoke, having notched twice up there in the league cup. With his new found confidence, let's hope his can grab another brace and let the sauce start flowing to the end of the season :-)
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ChristchurchSaint added 13:11 - Apr 17 Excellent viewpoint Nick, as you say he has worked hard most of the time and the chances he has had have just not gone into the net. He has hit woodwork umpteen times ( I think I read somewhere that it was 8?), if all these had gone in, the moaners would have been raving and saying what a good striker he is. Hopefully he has turned the psychological corner and goals will flow and may even help us to CL- will the moaners complain about that? (Also from a selfish point of view, I have had GP as my first scorer on Predictions several times and he has cost me a hatful of points!!!! :) )

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SaintBrock added 13:50 - Apr 17 Strictly speaking if Pelle or anybody else for that matter hits the woodwork then it's a miss and as we all know a miss is as good as a mile. That said I hope he's got the monkey off his back at last. Lets hope he's lost his 'miserable' look as well, he's a nice looking lad and a smile or two might help put the whole thing in perspective and who knows might just change his fortunes. I agree about the Tadic effect, it's very clear from the way Tadic plays that he respects and admires Pelle and always tries his hardest to feed him balls he can work with.

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SonicBoom added 18:34 - Apr 17 I've gotta be honest and say that I think Koeman could have handled it better. I agree that he never hid but sometimes you need a rest and a rethink. Koeman played him every week despite the fact it was obvious he was short of form and confidence. Yes you can play a player back to form but Koeman went well beyond that. And yes, he may have been contributing well to the overall team but that's not really his job. You can do that if others are stepping up and scoring but no one was. I would have been extremely annoyed if I was Mane, or Long during that time watching Pelle struggle through games whilst I sat on the bench. I believe that Koeman should have rested him after about 9 or 10 games. He would have got a rest, someone else would have got their chance, and the crowd would not have been on his back. Give him a few games (maybe 4 or 5 off) then bring him back. To persist as long as he did, was in my humble opinion did no one any favours. Let's hope he's over it now.

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corkcitysaint added 18:55 - Apr 17 I think RK stuck with him really because of his overall contribution to the team and how the "system" works around his hold up play. Coupled with this he shows faith in his players and sticks by them. Also, it was at a time when our options were more limited with injuries, Mane away etc. To be fair to Pelle also, the service dried up as did the goal contributions from the rest of the team which highlighted his drought even more. To give him credit, he always tried and never cried off about being tired / wanting a winter break or playing too much etc etc. Pelle for a hat trick tomorrow!

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