Nathan Redmond was delighted to be back in the goals after his first-half brace set Southampton on their way to victory over Wolves on Saturday.
The winger has been more of a provider than a finisher in recent weeks, but was on the receiving end of fine assists by Josh Sims and Danny Ings to twice give Saints the lead, before Shane Long’s second-half clincher.
The goals ended a run of seven matches without a goal for Redmond, taking his tally to eight for the season – the joint best of his Saints career.
“First and foremost, it’s about working for the team,” he said. “I’ve had various chats with the manager about that – that’s what he wants from me and the reward is either an assist or a goal. Fortunately, today I was on the end of two.
“I spoke to Simsy just before the game and I said ‘if you end up breaking, you just need to fizz the ball across the box. If me and Ingsy aren’t there, that’s our problem’.
“Then Ingsy turns on the ball and plays me in. Usually it’s me trying to slide him in, so that’s the sort of fluidity we have. It’s good to see.”
Redmond’s early opener was particularly symbolic of Saints’ swift counter-attacking that is fast becoming the team’s trademark under Ralph Hasenhüttl.
“We did it against Liverpool for our goal, we did it against Brighton for our goal, we did it against Huddersfield, we did it against Fulham… we’ve won balls in tight areas, played quickly forward and broke the lines,” he added.
“Maybe you’re only seeing it now, but we’ve been doing it constantly, and I think it’s the main thing of our game.”
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