Sofiane Boufal has proven he has the magic touch to unlock a game for Saints. The challenge now has been laid down to both the player himself and Mauricio Pellegrino to harness that ability.

The difficulties for Boufal are obvious via just a quick look through his year and a bit at St Mary’s.

A total lack of consistency has cost him a regular place in the team, and, in that vicious circle, a lack of games then makes consistency even harder to find.

There has been no doubting his talent. That was obvious from day one.

But too often the tricks and flicks have produced so little end product. Indeed, they have, at times, seemed to negatively impact the team.

It’s why the fans have got so on his back.

Boufal’s introductions from the bench have been often been met by jeers from Saints fans, convinced they will see another display where his talent is not properly channelled.

But that one moment against West Brom could be the catalyst to turn it all around.

A stunning run from deep, and then the coolest of finishes into the bottom corner, showed what he can do.

While a mercurial talent such as Boufal is likely to frustrate at times, he also has the ability to produce moments such as that goal that live long in the memory.

And when a team are so short of goals and confidence in attacking areas as Saints are, it is hard to overlook someone who can do something like that.

There is an argument for Boufal to be an impact player off of the bench, but he should want more than that himself.

Certainly his passionate response to scoring the goal against the Baggies suggested he is plenty fired up to try and prove a point.

Therefore, that passion has to go towards the kind of endeavours that mercurial talents are not as well known for – work rate, positional discipline, defending from the front.

If there was a sense that Boufal could produce a moment like this every couple of games then there could be an argument for getting him in the team and the rest of the side carrying him to an extent.

But in the more likely absence of that he has to put in a shift too if he is to play.

The task for Pellegrino is to see if he can crack the code with Boufal.

Saints paid £16m for him for a reason, and they won’t want him to go the same way as the other players of that sort they have bought recently.

Saints have spent big on creative talents, breaking transfer records for Gaston Ramirez, Dani Osvaldo and Boufal. So far, it hasn’t worked out very well for them.

However, that handful of seconds against West Brom showed that all is not lost with the 24-year-old Moroccan.

For Pellegrino though there is a dilemma.

He knows that he needs goals in the team, and Boufal has shown he can produce something out of nothing.

But he also knows that Boufal can sometimes drift through a match and make little in the way of a meaningful contribution.

Trying to find that perfect balance in the Saints side between defence and attack is something Pellegrino is clearly still searching for.

Whether Boufal will be the answer is unclear, but if the goals don’t start flowing and Pellegrino can’t find a way a way to give Boufal a go then that will also be a big question mark for the manager.

The difficulty is really how do you get the best from Boufal without causing issues for the side as a whole in terms of the need to keep things tight?

It’s not like playing Manolo Gabbiadini or Shane Long, where you have some sort of goal threat, albeit a very different one, but know you will get workrate and a certain amount of general all-round solidity in their play too.

Boufal plays on the margins, his trickery sometimes breath-taking, and at others head scratching as he gives the ball away.

Finding that perfect position for him is a tough task.

Assuming Pellegrino largely sticks with a 4-2-3-1 formation, then Boufal obviously has to slot into the three off of the main striker if he is to play.

The most natural position for him is the number ten role.

It allows him greater scope to drift wherever he wants to pick up the ball, to try and drop between the lines to cause the opposition problems, and to spring forward.

It is also, arguably, the position that requires the least discipline positionally in the side.

However, he hasn’t so far really offered the dynamism you get from playing a Gabbiadini or Long in that role where they can get beyond the striker and in behind.

The other options are to play him out wide, either left or right.

Then though you need a lot of workrate from him if you are to have your full backs providing much of the team’s width, otherwise they will be forced to defend rather than attack when the opportunity arises.

Boufal can come inside and finish – his brilliant goal against Sunderland last season a prime example – but he hasn’t really played all that well in the wide berths so far in terms of slotting into the team as a whole.

When you look at this weekend and a tough trip away at Brighton, it would in some ways seem a big call to include Boufal from the start.

But if he is to be more than just a super sub - which could also be the option that Pellegrino goes for - then he will need to get a run sometime, as there aren’t enough home games against poor sides to throw him in for to expect him to find the consistency everybody wants.