Journalist Tom Barclay has admitted it was great to see Adam Armstrong's confidence come flooding back during his recent outing against Aston Villa.
Armstrong has had a difficult start to his Saints career since joining from Blackburn Rovers for £15m in the summer, but he appeared to be back to somewhere near his best last Friday.
How did Armstrong perform against Villa?
The 24-year-old came into the match at St Mary's without a goal since the opening day of the season.
It took him just three minutes to end his drought, though, as he fired home a first-time left foot strike from the edge of the penalty area.
That goal clearly gave him a major boost, as he went on to complete three dribbles, and made 86.7% of his attempted passes on his way to a WhoScored game rating of 7.88.
Southampton managed to hold on for a 1-0 win, lifting them up to 13th in the table.
What did Barclay say about Armstrong?
Barclay was impressed by Armstrong's decision-making, particularly in the first half against Villa, as Southampton picked up their third win in their last four matches.
Speaking about Armstrong to GIVEMESPORT, Barclay said: “It’s all about confidence. Watching the game, it was amazing to see what it did for him, particularly in that first half for Southampton, he was fantastic.
“He was just making the right decisions, constantly wanting the ball, wasn’t always shooting which he does seem to do more than your average striker. He does seem to shoot a lot when he gets the ball, which is why his shooting stats are so high.
“When you see a goal like that, you can see why maybe he does that.”
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Has Armstrong started to settle in at Southampton?
Some Southampton fans may have been concerned about Armstrong after his first couple of months at the club.
He scored 28 goals in the Championship for Blackburn last term, but looked a long way below that level at the start of his Saints career. Indeed, Ralph Hasenhuttl appeared to lose patience with him briefly, dropping him from his starting line-up for consecutive matches in October.
However, he has come back into the fold in the last couple of games, and proven his worth by getting an assist against Watford, and then scoring a superb goal at home to Villa.
We now seem to be seeing the player that Southampton hoped they were getting, and if he can continue to make telling contributions in the final third, the side have every chance of climbing up the table.
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