Saints blew away the Blues in the first half but then almost let them back in it in the second.
Saints first half display was as good as any so far this season as they put together a passing display that many Premier sides could not emulate, Nigel Adkins has the team playing plenty of short passes and a quick tempogame that is proving hard to handle for the teams we have played so far and this was the case for Birmingham who foundthemselves three goals down at the break after Rickie Lambert had put Saints in front with a penalty that cannoned in off the post, Guly then doubled the leadfiring home a great goal to continue his run of good form and then Lallana fired in a third after more great work from Guly aided by Richardson.
After the break the Blues rallied after an early goal from a free kick and in truth although Saints still in the main controlled the game, they looked susceptible at the back and almost conceded a second goal on several occasions not least when Carr hit the post, but with 20 minutes to go Adkins made the change that made the difference, Chaplow came on and added workrate to the side and it was the sub who made the game safe on 78 minutes when he ran through and slotted home a great ball from Lallana, the 4-1 scoreline didnt flatter Saints, but like all the previous games the warning signs were there.
Overall Nigel Adkins will be pleased with the teams performance, but he will still be a little concerned about our defending, Hooiveld it must be said looked big and strong and grew into the game, although with only a few minutes on th clock he slipped and almost gifted the visitors the opener, but apart from that he looked the part. Ironically Jose Fonte alongside him seemed to struggle all afternoon and wasnt his usual self although in the final 15 minutes he seemed to finally get to grips with the game and finished stongly.
Fraser Richardson did some good work at times, not least when he cleared the ball off the line that stopped Brum getting back to 3-2, but on more than one occasion his touch let him down when he had plenty of time to control the ball.
At left back it seems that Adkins prefers Fox to Harding, the ex Burnley man had a solid if unspectacular game, but perhaps thats what the manager wants, with Lallana in front of you and doing some good work in the oppositions half it is bound to leave gaps if a move breaks down and the counter attack is mounted, at times this can leave our left flank exposed, especially if the left back is farther forward than Lallana himself. Fox perhaps doesnt get as far forward as Harding did, but the trade off for that is keeping the left flank tight, four goals scored show that its not effecting the chances created department.
But for some reason we are still lacking a little composure at the back, hopefully thats because this was only the second game the four have played together as a unit and with more work on the training ground we will iron out the flaws.
But our usual shaky period aside we looked good in other areas and we have options coming off the bench, most other Championship teams dont have quality of the likes of De Ridder, Chaplow & Schneiderlin in their team let alone on the bench and there are still the missing men of Barnard, Butterfield & Jaidi to consider.
All that could be asked of Saints over the past two games at home is to get six points and thats what they have done and pushed themselves clear at the top of the table, they can only play whats in front of them, but now with two away trips the hard work starts, if they are still top in just under a fortnights time, then we can seriosly consider them as automatic promotion contenders with nearly a quarter of the season played.