Saints recorded their best ever Premier League win and almost recorded the best ever Premier league result in the process.
For the first fifteen minutes of this game though there was no sign of things to come, indeed it could be said that Saints were playing badly and in their worst form of the season as they struggled to get to grips with the game, then came that own goal from out of the blue and things changed drastically.
On Match Of The Day Alan Shearer was asked the question as to whether Saints were really that good or where Sunderland really that bad ? his answer was that it was a bit of both, although he did qualify that by saying that Saints were undoubtably brilliant.
I don't think you can argue with that answer, Sunderland were sloppy and Saints punished them for it, the first goal was unbelievable, you just cannot understand why he would try and clear the ball in that manner and after that the Mackems fell apart.
The second goal saw poor defending and great work from Steven Davis to cross for Pelle to make it two, then came the games controversial moment when Steven Fletcher with only Forster to beat poked the ball wide of the keeper and wide of the goal and then jumped the onrushing Forster, was it a penalty ? I would say no but I can see why it could have been given, I would also say that if the ref had given the spot kick, Forster should have only been booked as with Fletcher having already got his shot away and wide of the post, he was not fouled in a goal scoring position, so it should have been a yellow card.
Fair play to Gus Poyet in the interviews afterwards though, he made no mention of the penalty or it changing the game etc, instead concentrating on his teams poor performance.
The third goal saw Jack Cork start and finish it, firstly he played a sublime pass to Tadic, who held the ball up and waited for Cork to appear in the space at the far post, Cork's finish wasn't the best but it was that sort of day for the Sunderland keeper and defence and the effort creeper over the line.
So the game was all but finished at the break and it would only be a question of how many would Saints get, although this being Saints you are never sure to the final whistle, for the best part of 20 minutes Sunderland were resolute then the floodgates opened, the big question on the fourth though was whether it is an own goal or not, personally I would give it to Pelle, his shot was on target and yes Bridcutt got his feet tangled up on the line and had the final three touches, but the ball was on target and should be Pelle's, hopefully the dubious goals panel will look at it and consider that to be the case.
The fifth was definitely Pelle though and another great finish firing across the keeper. Tadic then made it six with a lovely first time curling shot after the keeper had inexplicably failed to launch the ball into row Z and instead tamely passed it to Tadic who fired past him.
The seventh was Wanyama who smashed it home and the eighth Mane who made up for his miss at Spurs with a smart finish.
With four minutes of normal time plus injury time to go, Saints supporters were wondering whether their side could hit 9 or even 10 to set a Premier League record, the answer would be no, but no one could be disappointed with this display.
Certain players will get all the plaudits for this game, Dusan Tadic became one of only a handful of players to get four assists in a Premier League game and topped it off with a goal, Pelle again showed why we needed to move on from last season up front and indeed every player played his part.
But for me some of the unsung heroes deserve praise, Shane Long put in a good display and the very fact that we have a player of his quality to either come of the bench or to enable us to rest the likes of Mane when needed should be a cause for celebration of ho much we have improved and not a reason to moan that we over paid for him, Long has and will play a big part in this season and Saints fans should remember the reception Pelle got in the first couple of games.
Steven Davis again worked tiredlessly and his cross for Pelle's first goal was superb and likewise Jack Cork, he could walk into at least half of the other Premier league team's and its testimony to our strength in depth that we can rest the likes of Wanyama and see Cork put in such a great display.
Again Ronald Koeman deserves praise, he tweaked the side to make sure we weren't tired and had options and this enabled us to keep going for the full 90 minutes and reap the rewards.
The only real negative side of the day was the empty seats, 2,000 Saints fans could have seen this great display but didn't, if the Stoke match next week still sees those empty seats after a result like this then it will be a travesty.
A year ago people were talking about how great Mauricio Pochettino was and how there had never been a better time to be a Saints fan, I dont think many would disagree that Koeman is a much better fit for Saints manager and that as goodas last season was, this one is now shaping up to be much better, back in the summer I said that it wasn't about who was leaving it was all about who was coming in next, we have bought very wisely and that is being shown by our results on the pitch and the maner in which we are playing.
It is still early days yet and how long we can keep it up is yet to be decided, however if we can put away the likes of Sunderland as we did yesterday and continue to do so in the next few games against Stoke and Hull, then we will be in a good position for November when we start to play some of the tougher sides and if we can unlike last season get a few results against them, then perhaps we might just cause a real shock or two in 2015.