Brett Ormerod gets Saints opener against Manchester City. Brett was undoubtedly star of the show again yesterday. When he went off to an ovation in the second half, you could really see just how much Saints missed him. Brett was a prolific scorer for Blackpool and his determined attitude has allowed him to make that difficult step up to the Premiership. While Saints have there share of purple patch strikers in Beattie and Davies, Ormerod is a more complete centre forward. This should result in him becoming Saints leading striker if his form continues, as he's a much more valuable asset from a number of attacking situations than either Beattie of Pahars.
Strachan has taken his time in introducing Ormerod into the top flight, but on his current form, it's simply impossible to rest him. Ormerod is up for every match and Strachan will surely continue to select him.
Brett showed great movement against City, seemingly available to get on the end of anything Saints put into the box. With Beattie used more as a traditional holding centre forward and Pahars better coming in from deep, it's good to have an out and out predator in the penalty box.
Fabrice Fernandes continued to impress yesterday. He has now added the finishing ball onto his quick runs at opposition defenders. He is as capable of getting to the byline and crossing as he is running at defenders or taking shots on goal himself. This unpredictability makes him a real threat to the opposition and adds an important element to the Saints attack. With Fernandes creating space by dragging markers away, Saints have much more room to create chances from other areas.
Saints have looked pretty static from the midfield for far too long and it's great watching us move forward with much more movement and purpose.
Another players who is getting more encouragement going forward is Wayne Bridge. Having spent the start of his career up front and then on the left of midfield, Wayne certainly has the ability to create chances and get a few goals for himself too.
Wayne has spent the last few seasons becoming England's best left back and is now adding the best parts of his early career to his great defensive ability. Wayne just keeps getting better all the time and I would be very surprised not to see him start in England's next international.
Marians Pahars didn't have the best of games, despite there being so many good Saints performances. He didn't look as sharp as Ormerod had been and his overall workrate was lower, allowing Man City more room to get forward. In addition to that he left Saints with ten men having received his second (as in the pic) for diving in the box.
The lightning Latvian has struggled to be at 100% this season and with the form of Brett Ormerod, may well be relegated to the bench for the time being.
"...and the fans go wild." Brett gets a super fast opener for the Saints.