Our regulat columnist Dan runs the rule over Saints win over the Hammers and sees plenty of plus points to give us hope going into a busy week.

After a disappointing draw last weekend with Swansea, it was important to go into the game with West Ham with determination to record three points, especially after being gifted with two home games to start the season! Oh, did we do just that! The players were determined from the first minute to get a result, especially as the home goal drought has gone on for too long!

The opponents started well and so did Saints but there was little to split the two sides up until a clever through ball from Nathan Redmond found Gabbiadini who slotted past Joe Hart after just 11 minutes to give Southampton a dream start!

West Ham could’ve equalised through Michail Antonio, who was returning from injury, but his header was comfortably caught by Fraser Forster who, in my opinion, is starting to look a bit more like himself.

The referee had a lot of important decisions to make and I feel like he got most of them right, however, Mark Noble should’ve been sent off for a naughty lunge into the leg of debutant Mario Lemina but the foul was given in the West Ham captain’s favour!

However, West Ham did go down to ten men soon after when record-signing Marco Arnautovic stupidly elbowed Jack Stephens in front of the referee and caused his team to have to play with ten men for more than an hour of the game!

It did go from bad to worse for Southampton’s opponents after domination from the Saints led to ex-skipper Jose Fonte comically pulling down current-skipper Steven Davis in the box to give away a clear penalty! Dusan Tadic converted it and Saints were flying!

The score-line could’ve been greater when West Ham pulled a goal back just before half-time as both Steven Davis and Cedric had decent chances but they couldn’t find the back of the net. A goal out of nothing came for West Ham when Antonio turned and shot and Forster who saved but the rebound fell to Javier Hernandez who tucked the ball away. Whether Forster should’ve done better or not I’m not sure but suddenly what was a comfortable advantage became cautious.

Southampton did attempt to restore their two-goal advantage but their efforts weren’t enough to make the score-line 3-1 and soon enough West Ham, with 10 men, came from two goals down to equalise after a perfect cross found the head of Diafra Sakho who’s attempt was well saved by Forster but again, the rebound fell to Hernandez who got his second of the match.

Home fans could complain about throwing away a two-goal cushion with a man advantage but the important thing was that the manager showed intent by bringing on both Charlie Austin and Shane Long and so did the players who kept the ball in West Ham’s half but were struggling to create good chances even though both Gabbiadini and Redmond had seen second-half efforts from outside of the box hit the crossbar.

But then, a stupid push from Zabaletta on the back of Yoshida deep in added time earned Southampton their second penalty of the match. Substitute Austin stepped up to take it and slotted past Hart to earn Saints their first three points of the season right at the death!

Overall, I think the performance was good but not necessarily as good as last weekend which is obviously strange as we drew last weekend and won this weekend. There were some sloppy passes.

At times it was nerve racking but shooting accuracy and shot conversion was much better and at times we really made it difficult for West Ham. Bertrand didn’t seem his usual self and Stephens didn’t have his best of games in my opinion but Lemina showed that he could be a really good partner for Romeu and Steven Davis also played well further up the pitch. However, my man of the match was Maya Yoshida. The man tackled, passed and intercepted well alongside winning the last-gasp penalty for Saints!

Now we need to look ahead to Wednesday’s cup game and, even though the team will look very different, we should go into the game with confidence and hope to have a similar run in the competition like last season!

Relying on Huddersfield’s result against Newcastle to tell me what to expect next weekend, I think that we will have a very good chance to have an unbeaten start with a potential seven points from nine before the international break; happy days

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 12:15 - Aug 21 'Whether Forster should’ve done better or not' - I am surprised that anyone would think his slow reactions and his impersonation of a tree felled by a lumberjack were 'good enough'. This guy is supposed to be a very good keeper. What was an occasional vulnerability, since his injury has become a serious weakness. To me this is more worrying than the CB debate - MP will have noted that and it sounds like it is going to be sorted but I agree with the Guardian today ("Forster was oddly rewarded with a shiny new five-year deal in July despite a shaky time last term") - and I don't think we will be signing a new first-choice keeper in the near future.

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bstokesaint added 12:31 - Aug 21 Would it do any harm to get the sub keeper a run-out now he's fit again? I still think Forster has great ability, but he's clearly nowhere his best right now.
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TimSaint added 13:42 - Aug 21 Forster has looked vulnerable since VvD has been out of the team. I think he is ok for us, but not great like 2 years back and is at a team that is probably his level - I don't see any of the top 7 coming in for him. On Saturday he was let down massively by his defence. If you want to pick just the goals, then Antonio should not have been allowed to turn and shoot and although FF only parried the shot (not a bad save) he should maybe have pushed it wider. Hernandez was quickest to react and Bert was guilty of ball watching. The second was also full of errors. A long ball over to their left, but no Saints right midfield to cut out the cross. Yoshi totally the wrong side of the defender giving a free header from 8 yards or so. FF could maybe have advanced and punched (ala Hart's Superman in the 2nd half), but we all know he stays in his 6 yard box. He actually pulled off a good save and was a little unlucky that it came back off the bar straight to Hernandez again. He again converted well whilst this time Cedric and Stephens ball watched. Pelligrini stated afterwards that West Ham had won too many balls in our box - so surely cutting out the crosses (with a man advantage) is a priority, as is not giving away silly free kicks. Then it is up to the defenders to win first and second balls in the box, and for the strikers to provide an outlet for the defensive clearances. Even against 10 men, we still failed to leave anyone forward for West Ham corners or free kicks - totally bizarre. We were our own worst enemies and against 10 men became very complacent. Cut out the crosses, be organised at the back and mark in the box and the Hammers don't get a sniff at goal - and FF won't need to make saves !! FF does not have anyone to challenge him at the moment, so perhaps he is also getting complacent. Remember Jones and Niemi anyone ? Maybe on Wednesday night, we will give a different keeper a run out - because even if Gazzaniga goes to Spurs, we will still have so many others on our books !!

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