Nathan Redmond is beginning to become the “natural” player Saints need him to be.
Saints boss Mark Hughes introduced Redmond at half time with Saints level at Everton following an injury to Mario Lemina.
Redmond responded in fine fashion, continually looking to use his pace to take the game to the Toffees and popping up with the opening goal.
Though that didn’t prove enough to get the win, Hughes was impressed by the 24-year-old’s performance.
It’s been a tough season for the £10m winger, who has admitted his confidence was affected by booing from the Saints fans, particularly on Boxing Day against Tottenham, However, he has picked himself up and is delivering the goods once again for the team at a crucial point in the season.
Hughes said: “I haven’t been at the club that long and I think it was just Nathan, he is basically an outstanding player, he lost a little bit of confidence maybe and that was evident in his play.
“Sometimes he was being too sure, rather than being the natural player he is but I thought he was excellent when he came on, clearly understood what was required of him and when we made the change, that shows he is engaged and focused on what is happening on the pitch.
“I obviously had to make the decision not to start him so he was disappointed with that but it didn’t affect his focus on the game itself because that was why he was able to make the impact he did.”
