Jay Rodriguez turns 27 today and all Saints fans will wish him a Happy Birthday, but what they wish for him most of all is an injury free season and a return to the form he showed three seasons ago.

Two and a half years ago life was good for Jay Rodriguez, he was one of the Premier leagues top scorers and had forced his way into the England squad, there was every indication that he would got to Brazil for the World Cup and his career looked to have a glittering future.

Then came that awful injury at Manchester City and instead of a plethora of games for Saints , goals and England caps, Jay has suffered 30 months of gruelling recuperation, recovery, gym work and ultimately frustration.

A year ago we had the same hopes for Jay, indeed it will be almost a year to the day when Espanyol visit next week that J Rod struck a magnificent 25 yard equaliser to suggest to Saints supporters that he was back.

Frustratingly that did not turn out to be the case, for a month or two he looked to be building up momentum, but just as Saints fans thought that he was ready to truly find his form again, his season was just about finished.

He did of course return in the closing weeks to play a part in Saints surge to a sixth place finish, but I suspect that for Jay himself it was a season that he would really want to forget.

Now though it is a new season and a new beginning for Jay, he has had the summer to get himself back to full shape and unlike last year he does so with the benefit of being match fit at the end of the last season and that will be a big plus for him.

He could well be a pivotal player in the side in the coming year, Ronald Koeman had little time to work with him and the feeling is that if he had been fit during the winter months last season, then perhaps a few more points would have been piced up here and there in that awful run of results and it might be Champions League he would be looking forward to and not the Europa League.

Jay's versatility will serve the squad well and that could be crucial to allowing Claude Puel to change tactics as the situation permits.

There is the rumour that Puel intends to play a more attacking game than his predecessor, the formation will on paper look similar, but the emphasis could be on attack with only one holding midfielder and the two wide men in more advanced roles.

This will suit Jay, although he can play the type of role that Koeman wanted from his wide player, that which involved a degree of covering the full back, he is best suited to attacking and that could reap us rich rewards.

He could also play as a central striker and this could be a bonus given the injury record of Charlie Austin.

The overall picture though is that we have three strikers in J Rod, Shane Long and Charlie Austin all capable of scoring 12-15 goals in the coming season, they are versatile and offer between them a combination of attacking skills, add the trickery of Dusan Tadic and the pace of Nathan Redmond and we look good going forward and it could get better if we bring in another out and out attacker.

So on the day that Jay turns 27 I like all Saints fans wish him many happy returns of the day and we also wish him many happy returns to fitness, goal scoring and hopefully the England squad.

If all of that happens then Saints season might just be as good and exciting as the last one.

Photo: Action Images

codge added 10:27 - Jul 29 Happy Birthday Jay, hoping you have a great birthday and also a great season injury free for Saints.
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saintsnutcase added 10:53 - Jul 29 If they are fully fit, Shane Long Jay Rod and Charlie Austin would be one of the best strike forces in the Premier League. But we can't really expect them to stay fit. We need another reliable striker - maybe Sam Gallagher?
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perazi added 12:21 - Jul 29 I hate to be negative but I just don't see J-Rod ever getting back to his pre-injury form. Furthermore I'm convinced that Sam Gallagher is not going to make the grade - we definitely need another attacking creative player.
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